Holly Bush

Well what can I say about the holly bush that hasn’t already been said. This place holds a lot of memories of Sunday roasts with my family after a long walk on the Heath. It must be listed in some London guide now as its packed with tourists with backpacks ordering coffee.
You can’t help but love this place. GreAt for the ale drinks and very cosy on a winters day.

I had traditional fish and chips with mushy peas and a good olé pint! Can’t get better than that in a 17^th Century Pub! :-)

This place is quintessential Hampstead gastropub with all the old trimmings. It’s so authentic you can practically feel the souls of Londoners sitting by the fire and discussing local goings on. The menu consists of pheasant, sausage, đer, beef cheek, mussels, fish and chips, thrice baked potatoes… And beautiful draught ale and cider.
Make the short steep walk to experience the 1807 establishment and relax by the fire with friends as so many travelers have gone before you.

I went here with my fiancé, who had been before and remembered it fondly. It looks like a cute neighborhood place, and it was busy on a Saturday night; I learned later that there was a party upstairs. My fiancé ordered me a champagne and we got seats at the bar. We were having a nice time, so I ordered a second prosecco. The two bartenders seemed wonderfully attentive, but the bartender who served me poured a glass well short of what I’d gotten before and what the menu listed as a serving. When I pointed this out very politely, he claimed that this was a normal pour for the house – less than half the glass, mind you – and that I’d have to pay for another if I wanted more. I said fine, just give me a proper full glass, and he said that it would take a moment: he’d have to fetch another bottle downtairs. Mystery solved: I’d gotten the last of a bottle! What a drag that he couldn’t have just admitted to the obviously light pour and corrected the error; if it weren’t for the lovely bubbles, I would have left with an awful taste in my mouth.

Great old school pub that takes you far away from the hustle and bustle of London, its always nice when a pub has a few rooms and also a nice little outdoor space. You can truly lose track time there and the food isn’t bad either, my last meal of fish and chips was one of the finest I’ve had in London for a long time.

This traditional pub has it all — wonderful location, cozy pub atmosphere, and an elegant dining room upstairs. I’ve enjoyed a cheerful dinner downstairs next to the chimney and also a classy Sunday lunch in the dining room. The food was excellent. I’d defenitely be a regular if I was living there.

Difficult to find, tiny out of the way luscious little old pub chocked fill of aged wood and obligatory snugs and nooks and crannies. Beer is Adnams so no problem there. The reverse of hipster and long may it remain so. Haven’t tried the food but assuming I can find it again I’ll give it a go.

Nice pub with a great atmosphere. The staff is friendly and the crowd hip… Very authentic british. The food is good and they have a fair selection of drinks.

Worst food we’ve had in london, took an hour and a half to arrive and was inedibly oily, spicy, and gross. Great atmosphere and friendly staff, though, so great for drinks!

Don’t bother with the food, just stick around for drinking and enjoying the view down the street or one of the comfy rooms inside.

Good assortment of pub food, good beef and ale pie amazing cod and chips

Both times we ate at the Holly Bush the service was terrible and food disappointing.
The first time, it took 45 minutes to bring our dinner order. They claimed the stove was broken. They brought some pretentious smokey egg/​duck monstrosity the waiter claimed was phenonemenal. No longer on the menu, thankfully.
The second time, the waiter simply didn’t know the menu and knew nothing of the wine (or English language). The sea trout was fine, chicken and jersey
royal potatoes dissappointingly bland and the lamb a tough as leather. Meat pie starters were good, fried zucchini blossoms also bland.
I like the downstairs for just drink and crisps. Food just doesn’t seem to be their passion.

The Holly Bush is a legendary pub in London — that is much revered by locals and visitors alike.
It is admired because it is non-​corporate — because of its quirky decoration and feel — and because of the people who run it and go there.
Possibly our experience was atypical — but our experience was awful.
The place is Non-​corporate unquestionably — and I hate chain pubs with chain beer just as much as anyone else does.
It is a bunch of tiny little rooms cut up in a jigsaw puzzle of different ways with old historic pictures of the neighborhood on the wall.
The neighborhood outside is quaint and quirky (and you could never afford to live in those quaint and quirky cottages unless you won the lottery — but that doesnt make it any less picturesque).
It was mobbed — with the lovers of the classic establishment etc etc.
It was filthy.
(Leftover plates and glasses and stuff from previous patrons everywhere most with food scraps, dirty napkins or other detritia).
This also applies to the bathrooms.
Physical maintenance was also in bad shape,
as I leaned on a stair railing while going upstairs to have it come off the wall.
On a 9:30 on a Saturday — they only had corporate brewed beers because they were OUT of 7 out of 8 of the non-​corporate brews.
(How can you be out of beer by 9:30 on a Saturday night?)
The one non-​corporate beer they did sell us was «water beer».
I do acknowledge that some older forms of real ale pride themselves on an authentically watery taste — and this was one of those and that some people call that legendary beer.
I probably should have just bought one of the other microbrews — if they had any (cough cough).
The bartender drew both me and my wife SHORT Pints!!!
What kind of serious bar fills the glass 85% full and calls it a pint???
They also took our money for a scotch egg despite the kitchen having closed an hour before our order.
(Someone else notified us of the kitchen closing in a more or less timely way. They did give us our money back — but we had to ask them to.)
We left in disgust — our beers barely touched.
I am sure that if you live in Hampstead and the best finest decent-​est people in the world go to Holly Bush — that you would want to go with them to Holly Bush too.
But I would say between not cleaning, not doing basic repairs, not ordering basic supplies and stiffing the customers on the drinks —
there is not much to admire here.
Maybe they were having a bad day?

I chose this location for our Sunday lunch, based on an article in the Metro listing this pub as ‘one of the top ten roasts’ in London. I can firmly say this is one of my top 10 worst roasts… anywhere in the UK, very disappointing. My partner and I are both vegetarian, and although we are very happy when there is a vegetarian option, we are perfectly happy when the establishment can just serve us up a decent plate of food, minus the meat.
In the case of Holly Bush, we were made to feel difficult by making this suggestion by the slightly arrogant bar manager, and then we were charge for a pork roast, when we have the pork roast, minus the meat and nothing extra.
I could tell that the roast potatoes had been boiled and then deep fried to create a ‘roast like potato’, which is fine from Weatherspoons or similar, less fine with you are paying between £14 — £19 for a roast meal. I obviously can’t comment on the quality of the meat, but all your trimmings are what I got, and unless you are not very hungry, and aren’t looking for anything other that boiled veg and deep fried potatoes, you won’t be that impressed either.
The place is dog friendly, but it also smells like dog when you walk in. This is coming from a dog lover.
The only up sides, are that is is a nice little lively pub, good natural lighting and they could squeeze us in right at opening time without a booking.
I’d never go back, or recommend it to anyone else though, so for that reason they get a two star rating.

Nice pub and all that, but really not all that special except for the location and history.
People have been banging-​on about the Sunday Roasts here for years on Unilocal but based on the one I had here this year I really don’t see why. Sure it’s decent enough but not a 4 star meal and certainly not a 5 star delight.
Look. A roast should either be a banquet of traditional comfort food perfection, or should be a cheap old faithful like dropping round grans. Too many places in London are doing circa £20 a head roasts that fall badly down the gap between nan’s Sunday lunch and a fancy-​ass feast at a posh hotel on the Monopoly Board.
Nice rooms though.

We stopped in at the Holly Bush for a late lunch in Hampstead. The pub was nearly empty, so we had our choice of seats. The Holly Bush is actually an old house that was renovated into a pub, so it has a number of cozy rooms where you can sit. The room we chose boasted a skylight and a stack of British board games. I really liked the atmosphere, which seemed classically English to me.
Food was excellent; I chose the cod and lentils after learning my first choice, the meat pie, was not available, and my husband had a sausage roll with jalapeño ketchup. Our pints of beer also satisfied, although I wish there had been a printed beer list vs. having to ask our server to rattle off a list of draughts from memory.
I liked this place well enough to go back; my sister, who lives in the neighborhood, is a huge fan, so something tells me we did ourselves a disservice by coming to the Holly Bush during a downtime.

My only regret in London? I did not get the chance to dine at Holly Bush.
We stopped for beers at Holly Bush during our London Walks Hampstead Pub Crawl and loved the cheery, cozy atmosphere in this pub. The pub attracts quite a large crowd of locals and tourists in the evenings. Judging by the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen and the cheap beer prices it was quite obvious why! We drank our pints outside with the locals since the bar area and the tables were all packed.
TIP: Reserve a table or avoid the dinner rush if you don’t want to stand during your visit!

Does it get more idyllic for a Sunday afternoon in London? As roast-​virgins, we made our snowy way to Holly Bush to pop our… chickens? Yes, pop some chickens.
It was a lovely one to kick things off with. Protip: make a reservation. Sundays get quite bustly, and you’ll want to sit and enjoy this. One smart gal in our party thought ahead and we arrived at 2pm to a reseved table (with our name on it, to boot!) ready and waiting. Let the inaugural roast commence!
OUT OF SCOTCH EGGS. Oh, the humanity. Cannot report on them.
We started with the chicory salad (very good!) and the sausage rolls (indulgent), and sped quickly into the main affair: ROAST. I had the chicken and he had the lamb. The chicken was sizably bigger, but I am a good sharer. The roasted potatoes and root veggies were just the trick to soothe on an uncharacteristically wintery day. There was a bit of delay (likely with the crowds) so it wasn’t quite as hot as I would’ve liked, particularly the ares outside of the chicken (veggies, sauce, etc). Minor tweak.
The snow is falling. The windows are foggy,. The roast is roasting. It’s a pleasant (and very quick) little jaunt up the hill from Hampstead tube station — you’ll feel a bit like you are in a movie once coming upon it. Well, i did anyway.
*dog-​friendly. there were many!
*service is quite alright, no service gratuity added in… so make sure to leave something.
*reservations accepted
First roast accomplished and with vigor. Will surely return when in the area, the vibe is great for this spot, comfy, cozy and well-​priced.

My dad & sister really set the bar high for Sunday roasts, so I knew I probably wasn’t going to come away declaring this was the best ever. However, I was excited to have roast beef, as that’s my favourite but in my house we normally have lamb (not that I’m bitter about that. Although I am).
We got there early and had no problem getting a table, albeit in a somewhat unattractive back room. We ordered a couple of small plates because we were concerned the roast might take a while.
As it happened, the roast came out first, which was a bit weird as the server specifically said they would bring the small plates beforehand. Also, they got the lamb and beef mixed up and then couldn’t remember which of the beef was rare and which was medium rare (in fact, neither were either of those things). Actually it seems weird that there could be an option, unless they have a «rare joint», a «medium rare» joint etc.
The meat was fine but not particularly good. Roast potatoes also below average. The other vegetables, however, were outstanding — varied, perfectly cooked and tasty. The serving was very generous, which is good because it’s pretty expensive.
I also loved the scotch egg we had — best I’ve ever had — so much better fried than eaten straight out of the fridge! (What? I never do that). Sausage roll was also good. Everyone also enjoyed their desserts — I tried the fruit crumble with crème anglaise. The crème anglaise was absolutely delicious, perfectly flavoured and so moreish!
With better service and better roast potatoes (and also knowing what is beef, this would be four stars. It’s a great place to stuff yourself before walking it off on Hampstead Heath. But dude: know your meat.

I believe more research into this thing known as «Sunday Roast» is in order. And I believe I’ll enjoy it! I’m still new to the whole concept, being a long-​time bruncher… but I’m pretty sure I could get used to it.
I ordered up the lamb roast (supposedly with capers and mint) and it was virtually indistinguishable from the more traditional Beef Wellington that my cohorts were served up — in fact, the only way we were able to tell them apart was that –theirs– had a pastry on the plate.
Oddly, I encountered neither capers nor mint on my dish, but I did uncover a mound of perfectly roasted potatoes, fresh cruciform vegetables, a root vegetable or two, and a sprinkling of beans and peas. If the pristinely clean plate that stared back at me twenty minutes later was any indication, it all went down just fine. I will admit to resorting to some generous additions of salt and pepper, though.
The staff is just lovely, being ever-​so-​patient with our reservation confusion. Fortunately, they take down the phone numbers of everyone who books, so we were sorted after much confusion. And they make a solid bloody mary, though you may need to ask for ice.
In the future, be sure to enunciate carefully when calling to put your name down. Otherwise you might end up in a pickle. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… right, VOAR?

Bueno para invierno con las cervezas fuertes, pero muy oscuro y caliente en verano. La comida es nada de especial. Bueno para la esperienca pub britanico