The Swan

Great Pub with a sweet owner and friendly staff! Thursday through Saturday there's live music which shouldn't be missed. We liked the breakfast a lot, fresh ingredients, good portions. Two of us are vegetariens and one doesn't like tomatoes - no problem, all of our special requests were happily taken care of. When we came back a few days later for a pint the owner recognised us which I think is amazing in a town like London and a sign that he really cares about his customers. The pub itself is the regular, cozy English kind of pub, just the way you want it to be. Highly recommended and absolutely easy to reach as it is located within 50m of Lancaster Gate station.

I  biffed up here Friday evening with a pal. Evening started well with a delightful Cider which really hit the spot. But to our aghast, we were then treated to what I can only describe as the ‘Little and Large’ show with Eddie sporting a time warped mullet and Sid minus glasses and hair who were both warbling through so called brat music. We had a couple necking in the corner which was the final straw putting me off my white bowl lasagne which appeared to have been blasted in the microwave.

In summary

Cider – good

Location - agreeable

Food – Ray Charles needs a new career

Mullet – there’s no need

 

Love, Noel Howden

I’ve just got home from The Swan on Bayswater Road (we live a few streets away) after trying it out for Sunday lunch. It’s been a cold, snowy February day and we were really up for a simple Sunday roast in a nice London pub.

The Swan is in a great location, opposite Hyde Park, and is nicely laid out with lots of seats and tables. But the food was truly awful

I had the roast beef from the carvery. The beef, plentiful as it was, was tough as boots and was stunningly overcooked. They had drenched in it a flood of instant gravy to try to rehydrate it but it was so overdone that the edges were still flaky where the gravy had not attempted to rehydrate them. The beef was served with one small yorkshire pudding and 4 half roast potatoes. These, amazingly, had been microwaved (I watched them do it behind the counter). To microwave a yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes takes a callous disregard for both food and your customer. Both yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes should be crispy and crunch – hot, fresh from the oven. Microwaving them made them into soggy, wet drops of starch – truly awful.

The mess was served with a large spoonful of carrots that, again, were boiled to within an inch of disintegrating – within them was a thimbleful of broccoli, just the bare tips of a piece. Naturally the broccoli was also boiled to within an inch of it’s existence, I suspect in the same pan and probably earlier in the day.

My partner had the cheeseburger, not an adventurous meal. It arrived in a pale, white, bun (I suspect recently defrosted), the meat pattie literally obscured by a river of what was being passed as some sort of cheese sauce (following a similar vein as drenching my beef in gravy). A small salad was on the side and there 10 or so chips – I say chips, but they weren’t chips as you normally know them. They weren’t simply cut potatoes dropped into hot fat and served – they were those odd sort of aerated carbohydrate residue that somehow gets formed into a chip like shape, presumably in molds in a factory somewhere outside the North Circular. He was hungry after doing a run in the park but actually, after one bit, refused to eat any of it and just left it.

The Swan must do a roaring trade in tourists being in a great location near Hyde Park and having a nice bit of history to the pub. I presume this breeds a horrific complacency and I wonder if the management amuse themselves with seeing just how dreadful they can make to food and still see profits roll in from tourists who are not in the area long enough to be missed if they don’t return.

I’m cross with myself for not spotting the “tourist trap” signs that should have warned me that The Swan was likely to disappoint, but more than that the management of The Swan and the brewery Fullers should frankly be ashamed of themselves. There is no need to make such a miserable attempt at two simple meals.

I thought it would be terribly touristy located in Bayswater, but the food was really tasty, the drinks were great, and they didn't mind that I had a very young baby and pram with me. Great staff, I would go there again!

The swan is surprisingly a great night out at weekends and it is no wonder that tourists return time and time again.The friday evening 'ratpack tribute is a credit to the singers and the musical talents of Lee Travis are exceptional for the saturday and sunday shows.For pub entertainment,I think that the quality of entertainment for free is outstanding and those who have not experienced the warm reception from all the bar staff,the meals and the all round great atmosphere........you are seriously missing out

A really lovely warm welcoming olde world pub whih serves excellent food at reasonable prices. Always busy but luckily always found a seat available. They have heaters in the sheltered outside area which even made a chilly January seem warm.
They advertise a carvery but really it's just a Roast Dinner but still very tasty....also very nice Steak there