O’Neills Bars

So, this might change your opinion of me for life but sod it, I’m saying it anyway — I frickin’ love this place!
My bias is that I have only ever been here on Christmas Eve (s), always with a big group of friends and plenty of wine beforehand. A few years ago I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to O’Neills on Christmas Eve — not now! Now I’m the first in, rocking up to the bar and getting a round in. I always have fun, it’s like a school reunion in there for me, for a start, and now that I live so far away it’s great to come home and see old faces.
So, what else should I say. Well, they often have live music on and I can vaguely remember dancing on occasion so it must be decent (either that or the wine has taken its toll). It’s hot and sweaty, you’ll likely be chatted up by a few people you don’t want to be chatted up by and have to maneuver yourself away pronto. The queue for the bar looks big but I find it never takes long to get served. All in all this O’Neills is my favourite place for a Christmas Eve shin-​dig.
Festive fun guaranteed, and if you’re anything like me it’s followed by missing the last night bus, having to locate a taxi, chatting to a (very old) taxi driver about what the area looked like in the Second World War, getting home to your parents house, quietly making tea and toast then being woken up at 6am on Christmas Day by your dad who’s come down to find you on the sofa with cold tea and toast in front of you.
Ahh, it’s good to go home for Christmas!

Set on the main shopping street this pub is just above half way up the hill. If you were to walk from the station down the hill you would get to this unassuming pub after around five minutes downhill walking. It is part of the O’Neil’s chain owned by Mitchell and Butlers. Although it is different from the rest of the chain because, this one is rather cheap. One thing M&B know is their place in a local market. Here in Sutton they are not premium compared to the more chavy clubs and bars and therefore M&B’s prices are lower then in other O’Neill’s outlets.
Upon releasing this, I hit upon the drinks and the food on the menu on a couple of occasions. In all honestly, I would not recommend doing so here. The staff are friendly to strangers but rather clicly too. I waited eight minutes to be served and the place wasn’t busy one Sunday. On another Sunday whilst with friends all four of us ordered food and waited over 40 minutes. It took another five minutes to bring this to the managers attention who said ‘sorry, it is on its way’ before walking off.
I write this in the hope that she (or Mitchell & Butlers) reads this and suddenly realises that this is not customer service. When the food came out it was burnt. I was not wishing to complain because I felt it would fall on deaf ears, or take ten minutes to achieve nothing because she might walk off again. I made a comment and the manageress told me it was because of a ‘new chef’. Try ‘crap chef’ love. If your reading this trying to find a pub in Sutton to meet attry somewhere else.