Church House pub nr Cathedral (formerly Sanctuary/Priory/Ferret etc)

[Bilge]

This pub reopened in Dec and seems a welcome addition. It's not been that busy when I've been in. This is sometimes welcome on a busy night in town, but I hope it doesn't close down again through lack of punters. Maybe people don't know it's there, it's a bit hidden and has been closed for a long time. But it's potentially a good location as an antidote to Fargate and handy for the trams and buses.

 

The refurb is nothing out of the ordinary (apart from the iindoor hedges) but it's clean and tidy, the service seems good, they have a few cask ales and seem to know what they are doing with them. So thumbs up.

 

I searched for publicity about it but couldn't find much. A bit of info here from a pubgoer:

http://weebeefyspubblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-curch-house-4-st-james-street.html

 

Maybe the owners will do a bit of promotion at some point.

[ukdobby]

Had lunch there yeterday,food was very good,theyhave a few caladonian real ales which I wasn't impressed with,need to go local on the beers.

[Bilge]

Yes, not sure about the beer range either, maybe their choice is limited. Can't remember the bitter I had but it was passable and they seemed to be making an effort with the condition and pulling of it, which is the first thing to get right.

[Andy C]

Its supposedly a flagship Heineken pub and only serves their real ales (Heineken owns Caledonian Brewery).

[Bilge]

I don't have a problem with that as long as they are drinkable so I'll give them all a try. I went in pubs for years that only had one brand of cask ale. Sam Smiths is the same. The Queens Head only seems to do Thwaites but that's fine.

[DevonWench]

Went in on wednesday night & used a 1/2 price food voucher.

Glad we didn't pay full price the food was very average, won't bother again...

[neeeeeeeeeek]

It's a real shame, but I can't see it lasting. Been in a couple of times, had a Sunday lunch which was poor. Over cooked lamb, over cooked veg, would not eat it again, even though it was half price. The other time was a Friday evening, where I had a fish burger and girlfriend had a normal burger. Fish burger was pretty poor, cheapest available frozen fish burger, the sort of thing Iceland probably sell 10 of for a quid. Girlfriends burger was OK. Well, the half that was not burnt was OK.

 

Separate from the food the place had no identity. The music seemed to be a Hallam FM mix tape type selection. It was 7/8ish on a Friday night. It was not busy, there were a few other people eating and a group of 7/8 people chatting. Play some decent chilled tunes,then liven it up a bit later, or at least base the music on the punters. I really didn't need Beyonce screaming at me, followed by a random selection of awful chart hits from the last 5 years.

 

With places like the Wick selling decent food at similar prices the Church house really needs to up it's game. They should be using the 50% off food to draw people in, not make sure they never come back! I wouldn't eat there again at the discount prices so they have no chance when the offer ends.

 

I honestly find it amazing that a new bar wanting to find its feet in a very competitive area would try and get away with selling such poor quality food. Nothing I have eaten there required any skill when it came to preparation, so instead of buying the cheapest crap you can get your hands on, spend a bit more. That way you might still be open in 3 months time.