The Compasses — Restaurant in Three Rivers

We were so excited to have our 1st pub lunch in months! Arrived & the board outside said “bookings only OR regulars” this made us feel very unwelcome before even setting foot in the place! Was told to go out back to garden and choose a bench, when we had booked a table in the undercover bit. There was a table in the garden where you go to to order food & drink. Went to order food & was told the kitchen had just closed till 5pm, the lady was not apologetic AT all. When I booked the table for 3pm nobody asked are you eating or that the kitchen would be shut at this time! Decided to stay for a few drinks. Went back to order some more drinks, nobody there to take order, stood there for a while & somebody finally came, they called us to go get the drinks when they were ready & the lady rolled her eyes at us!.. Whilst drinking our drinks, we saw a party arrive & getting table service for drinks!! I asked the staff how come they are getting table service & they said they do table service if kitchen closed, I said we had been there since 3pm & nobody had had table service since we had been there! She did apologise but we had had enough by this point & left. I am presuming this party must have been the “regulars“. Back to takeaway at home as we have been doing for months. So disappointed is an understatement, I am not quite sure how they even have “regulars“ tbh. We will certainly never return to this pub, just rude. Funny thing is, we couldn’t...

Tired

I've visited here infrequently over a number of decades. The quality of food is good, as is the selection of ales and whiskey. However, it's certainly over priced. It is clear the owner/brewery had aspersions as money has been spent, especially in providing a large covered outside area and the garden however its looking tired. Really tired. Housekeeping appears to be far and few between.

Clientèle are quite a mixed bunch. This premises appears to cater in the day for local industries such as the Harry Potter studio's, yet the most frequent visitor will be a trades person, complete with working clothing.

This is the one pub I have had difficulty in offering a fair and unbiased review for. There are good elements but for me, the tired look, grumpy bar staff and prices for food and drink let it down.

The localle does suffer from a lack of pubs within walking distance and perhaps this is the reason for its popularity.

If you're driving, you might want to consider St Albans a 10 minute drive from here. If you're local, then you'll make use of your local amenities,...

This place would be absolutely fine if they didn't advertise it as a place to go to after visiting the Harry Potter Studio tour - ie, if you arrive with children under 11, which must be pretty common for people who've visited Leavesden. The Compasses doesn't allow children indoors, which is absolutely their right, but you don't find this out until you get there. They're perfectly happy to serve food to families out on the outside decking, but this is also an unrestricted smoking area, and depends on the weather.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for a pub, its owners and regulars to want their pub to be a child-free place. I don't assume I have a right to have my family fed wherever I pull up in my car. But it's deceptive to advertise as a place to visit after visiting the HP tour and then stick the children out with the smokers. Choose one...