The Merchant of Bishopsgate

I’ve been here a couple of times, both with the major pull being convenience as this place is in the Liverpool Street station complex.
The first time was a while ago to catch up with a newly-​engaged friend over coffee, after which we both had other places to social-​butterfly off to. We happily chattered away at one of the high tables near the door and whilst you could hear the hustle and bustle of the station outside it actually wasn’t too loud — I remember it being very easy for me to hear (and get overly excited about!) her cute proposal story. The coffee was fine and table service prompt — they took payment pretty much straight after the coffee arrived which is quite useful if you’ve got to run off for a train. Said friend has sadly stopped speaking to me in the time since then, but I don’t *think* that was because of my venue suggestion!
More recently I went with a group of friends who basically couldn’t decide where to meet before getting dinner. It actually worked well as a meeting point given we all appeared at different times from work, and I joined the group in time to get a drink and share some sides whilst we waited for the latecomers. Again, food and drink was quite standard and I think there’s a price premium for the location in there. Still, we had plenty of space rather than meeting in one of the nearby rammo bars on a Friday eve and the waitress didn’t bat an eye at the rapidly expanding group of us coming in in dribs and drabs.
Don’t expect any culinary wonders (I wouldn’t stay for a full meal) and there are definitely nicer places to meet nearby, but I can see myself stopping by again if I’m feeling lazy and have somewhere to go from Liverpool Street afterwards (which I assume is the only reason anyone chooses it!).

Just had lunch here and needless to say, I was disappointed. Of all the things I could have chosen from the menu, I decided to keep it simple and go with the burger and chips, which ended up being a bad choice. Where to begin… the burger patty was small and thick (you really should make the patty the circumference of the bun). Also, they use mince beef with a high fat content because it was a greasy mess. And I don’t understand how you can triple fry chips and have them come out soft. To be honest, if you have a burger on the menu and can not make a decent one, how can you expect the other food to be good? And how can you charge £10 for a crap burger? Do yourself a favor and skip past this place in Liverpool Street. Save your time, money and taste buds and go elsewhere. Hell, the pasty shop is better than this place…

If you don’t look out the window at the highly depressing comings and goings of Liverpool Street Station, then the décor and whatnot of the pub itself is pretty good.
Popped in there early-​ish on a Friday evening. It was very much packed with really quite sozzled geezer-​types. So it was a swift pint of unpleasant Heineken and move on.
Not for me.

A nice looking hideout in the busy Liverpool Street station. We went for a quick bite to eat before our guest departed for Euston.
The selection of drinks was very good, and the menu appealing. Not too expensive considering it’s a station pub. They have drinks recommendations for some of the items on the menu, so I went with a glass of the recommended Malbec to go with my chicken burger.
The wine was very good although the chicken burger was average and they had run out of the blue cheese I wanted to add to it. Still, it was tasty and filling and the wine certainly surpassed expectations.
They had re-​runs of the Olympic velodrome races on the TV which was strangely enticing; I do not normally like «sports pubs» but this was on silently with subtitles.
There were people from all walks of life in the pub and even though it was busy on a Saturday afternoon we could still have a conversation without shouting.
3 stars only because the food took quite a long time to come but it seemed that they were under staffed and they were doing their best.

An ok bar to go into if you’re catching up with a friend after work and you don’t want somewhete the noise will drown your conversation out. Their fries are amazing but food is a little expensive considering the quality. A Caesar salad is nearly £9 and it’s mainly lettuceseriously lacking much in the way of chicken. Peppermint tea is also fairly tasteless. My friends burger, according to him was amazing so can’t be too harsh of them.

This place is nothing special. I had a very forgettable burger here and on another occasion I tried the snack size fish and chips and found it to be the WORST fish and chips I’ve ever had. Even the chips weren’t good. The place itself is decent, the name is catchy, but it’s a waste of money for food. Go somewhere else unless you are in Liverpool station and need somewhere to sit. Then have a drink only because nothing else is any good.

This was a fun joint. Came here for a happy hour/​dinner and ended up spending a few hours chatting, drinking and eating. It was a great casual vibe with people coming and going as their trains came and went.
The burger was pretty good and the fries hit the spot. Put a few pints of beer on top of it, and that’s a winning combo!

Dropped in for a cheeky drink on a Friday afternoon to celebrate the coming weekend. It’s a bit odd in here — it’s so big that you loose any semblance of intimacy and the servers have to work just a bit too hard.
The beer menu is pretty good and I had some nice wheat beer that I had never tried before. The food comes in handy small plates — just right for sharing and it’s not overly expensive.
The music when we were in there was obnoxious. Really loud disjointed jazz that made me want to rip someone’s throat out. Instead of asking nicely if they could change the music, I found my self screaming «turn that goddamn awful racket off, or I’m leaving without paying». That’s how bad it was! To their credit they turned it down immediately and found something a little less offensive to pipe in.
What really took me aback, was that the loos are locked with a pin code. You have to request a piece of paper from the bar so that you can tap in the correct sequence (Which by the way is longer than nuclear missile codes!) I was naughty, I fixed the lock on the door so that it was stuck on ‘open’ when I left. Well, it seemed like a nice thing to do for the next desperate woman that didn’t know that a secret code was in place just to use the lavs!

More drinking revelry for after work drinkers can be had at the Merchant of Bishopsgate, so called because it actually was Merchant’s quarters someday back when it was normal to be a merchant. Very nice place to be these days too.