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The time now in Ruislip | |||
Waters Edge
It is important to read this page in full, but in so doing please be aware that it was written in the main, in about 2001. The present manager (3/2006) has written to me at length regarding the comments on this page and, with her permission, and only very slightly edited (for the sake of continuity between two messages) her letter is reproduced below - however, in May 2006 I paid a return visit to the pub, and my review of this visit, and the manager's response to it, may be found here
But. whilst the comments are kept on here (for now), the manager in question has gone and the pub changed hands in 2007
Having
read the views of many people that have visited the Waters Edge in the past I
am deeply saddened that for many this has not always been a positive
experience in terms of both food quality and service. Having recently taken
on the Waters Edge both myself as the Deputy General Manager and Ms Donna
Howard, the General Manager would very much like to reassure our guests that
we have been working very hard with our team to make some radical improvements
to our business to ensure The Waters Edge once again becomes a great place to
visit and dine at. We as a management team have been working with our parent
company to improve both the exterior and the interior and now have in place
improved outside lighting and signage, a tidier and more functional outside
seating area, a newly refurbished area inside the restaurant which will become
a function facility not to mention a newly overhauled and better operating
kitchen facility. For many, our toilet facilities were an issue so these too
have been addressed with new drainage systems in place to cope with the busy
periods our restaurant attracts.
The team
here have been instrumental in the changes and have been undergoing a major
training programme to improve the service levels to all our guests. I am sure
that this will be apparent on your next visit to us.
We have
also been working hard with the local community trying to re-establish
relationships with local groups and bodies such as the Lido Railway and
Ruislip Chamber of Commerce which we have intentions of being a major part of.
We have
plans during the Summer Period to turn our outside seating area into very much
a haven of activity with live music whether classical, jazz or more up to date
bands, bouncy castles for the kids and bar-be-cues for all to enjoy. We
understand that a lot of damage has been done in the PAST at The Waters Edge
but would like to invite all in the community to visit us over the coming
months and please provide any feedback you feel may be useful to us in driving
the business forward for all. We would like to thank all our guests who have
already done this and look forward to seeing you all again soon. Particular
thanks go to Jerry from The Ideas Bank who has introduced us to The Chamber of
Commerce, To all the fantastic guys at The Lido Railway – you know who you
are, Matt, Stan, Kush etc etc and to Sean our Lido Ranger and Stuart at the
local council who continues to be a great support in building a positive
relationship for the future.
It is
with much hope and a great deal of determination that both myself and my
colleague – Ms Donna Howard, look forward to seeing The Waters Edge being as
popular a venue for the local community to eat, drink and have fun in as it
should always have been. We understand the issues of the past, however, we
cannot take those back – only build on the future and it is a shame that
people will read this site and feel that a visit to the lido will not be an
enjoyable experience. I myself was attracted to the challenge of this site
purely because of the location and because it has been such a wasted
opportunity for so long. Yes, it has been poorly run etc etc, however I am
confident that this business is going to prove all to all visitors of the
Kindest Regards
Fiona Cook
Deputy
General Manager – The Waters Edge
P:S: - you may note that the only comment valid on this website is one that came in during our operation of the business – it’s a good one from what we feel are respected members of the community.
Continuing below is the Ruislip Online page as it was
Situated at the end of Reservoir Road, just inside the confines of, and facing on to, Ruislip Lido this pub is beautifully situated. Sadly that is where what is good about it ends.
The building itself was put up to replace the old art deco cafe that was visited by arsonists one night in the 80's. I am sure that there were restrictions placed on whoever designed it as to exactly what they could build as I suspect what was burnt down was listed, and what went up had to be in a similar theme, but this pub is a planning disaster!
Looking at the picture above you can see that it paints a very welcoming exterior to the road. It is actually difficult to see just how you get in it for a start. It improves at the other side and from a distance looks reasonable from the lake side. Inside however it is dark, drab and boring.
The side facing the lake (note lack of windows, and bushes in the way of the few that exist!)
To be fair it majors on food and really tries to be a restaurant, but a pub it also is, so I continue...
It was such an opportunity, it was so wasted. I don't know by whom and I doubt if they would stand up and account for their actions even if you accused them. This was more than an opportunity wasted, it was a chance for Ruislip to be really put on the map. A chance to do (and build) something that people would really remember. Much as I am a fan of art deco and wish the idiots had not set fire to what stood here the replacement should have been something different, something with flair, something bold and ultra modern, something with, dare one actually say it, WINDOWS! But I have the benefit of hindsight....
This pub is like a round of golf, it ruins a good walk.
Where it is, by road
Leave Ruislip towards Rickmansworth along Bury Street. Look out for the petrol station on the left and then a car showrooms on the right (that was a petrol station). Turn here down Reservoir Road and the Waters Edge may be found on the right at the end. There is a huge (council owned) car park on the left which is free and also used by visitors to the Lido, so you do not have to visit the pub to park in here. There are also local signs for Ruislip Lido.
Info
Telephone Number - 01895 625 241
Web links that may interest you
Every thing you could ever wish to know about Ruislip Lido
Real ale
No
Access via public transport
Not too bad. Get the. H13 from Ruislip tube to the stop for Ruislip Lido and you are there.
Pub Crawl Potential
Not bad, come out of the pub turn left, walk to the end and just up the hill on the other side of the road is the Six Bells. Or turn left at the main road and then right up Breakspear road to The Woodman. A final option is to turn left at the main road and walk about 1/2 mile to The Plough. Total walk between pubs a little over one mile and from all except The Woodman the H13 stops close by.
Ruislip Online review - see 2006 review below
The worst pint of keg bitter I have ever had, in the darkest and worst designed pub I have ever been in, in the most beautiful setting I can remember other than on the Thames. Some building work is planned in the near future, perhaps they will add windows....
Visitors views (click to submit)
(Note review as at 19/1/2006 which is further down the page is a good review of this pub)
"We were disappointed recently when visiting on a hot day. We decided to buy ice creams and drinks and sit at one of the outdoor tables. It appeared that the dirty dishes on our table and all of those surrounding had been sitting out there for quite a while. Then, after 20 minutes our refreshments still had not arrived. I went to see what the problem was, and I found three waitresses behind the counter eating the strawberries that were supposed to have ended up in my husband's £2.99 dessert. No apologies were made, so I stood and watched as they continued to prepare what was left of our food. I was then asked to take it out myself."
Chris P
The most miserable bar staff in the history of man. Every time you approach the bar it is as if they are doing you a huge favour by serving you.
James
My wife and I have just taken a trip from Letchworth to the Water’s
Edge in order to visit my son who has recently transferred there as a Duty
Manager from the White Hart at
Although a dismal Saturday in January and with the light rapidly
fading, it was apparent that the roadside view of the building is, at
best, depressing. However, once inside we found the staff pleasant and
amenable and the food acceptable; at least Kitchen Pre-Pack keeps things
consistent.
With a new management team, and my experiences of them (all from the
White Hart,
Carole P
I have to concur with the terrible reviews of somewhere in such a lovely setting. I have eaten here twice in summer 2005 & both times have been equally bad. The place is always dirty with overflowing glasses & plates on tables, orders take forever - not a problem if its good quality, home cooked food instead of being reconstituted microwave muck!
Clearly the unmotivated staff don’t receive any investment in their training etc - definitely would not recommend this place!
Alison
The comments from hereon have been made after the new (2006) manager had taken over
Last night (around 15/1/06 ROL) I organized a Christmas meal for 50 people from the Ruislip Lido Railway, and against the moans and groans we held it in the Waters Edge Public House.
I can tell you (and so can the other 50 attendee’s) that the pub is now fantastic the food is good, service is fantastic and the facilities are so nice.
You should really go down and have a look – it is so nice now.
There are two ladies running the place “Donna and Fiona”, who are lovely
and want to do everything they can to get people coming back to the pub.
I just wanted to say that we had a very enjoyable meal at the
Water's Edge pub. The staff were friendly, efficient, & attentive. Such a
great location - really looking forward to making use of the outside space in
the sunshine.
Justine
Today my wife and I and our two year old grandson visited Ruislip Lido, we enjoyed it very much and our grandson had a great time on the "beach". At lunchtime we went to the Waters Edge pub and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was very clean and tidy and the menu was both extensive and very good value. We were fortunate to meet Donna who deserves all the plaudits for her efforts as do the rest of the staff. We will certainly recommend Waters Edge to our friends.Thanks for a lovely lunchtime, Tom, Thelma and Scott.
I visited the waters edge on Monday 29th May, where they were holding a jazz night. What a great time me and my friends had. Great staff, so happy and polite. The food was excellent and was served in no time at all (considering how busy it was). I was even fortunate enough to meet the manager Donna Howard, what a great person.
We will certainly be visiting the waters edge again soon, we had a fantastic night.
Having had a number of favourable e-mails about the Waters Edge I decided on 30
th May to make a return visit and, for the first time, to actually eat there. I went at 6pm on the day England had a football match on, and immediately after a Bank Holiday Monday, it was therefore very quiet!!Access from the road is no better, if new signs have been put up there is not one that I could see that says "ENTRANCE" and most people, myself included, seem to have forged their own path across a grassed (now worn) area.
Nobody was sitting outside (too cold) and the patio area was clean and tidy.
What followed next was quite a most bizarre experience at an almost empty bar.
There were three ladies being served by a young man and I was "next". At the far end of the bar, a young lady looked to be making coffee, for diners I assume. The three ladies ordered their drinks and the young man seemed to be having a problem with, I think, a cordial that needed to be added. After much looking for it he finally produced a "something and blackcurrant" at which point one of the young ladies must have said something like "Actually I wanted……" (something else). The young man smiled and headed down the bar, to all intents and purposes to get whatever she wanted, never to be seen again! Not a word, just gone. A few minutes later a different young man appeared and asked them if they were being served. They responded with the answer "Well actually we do not know!!" and at which point he said "OK lets start again", and seemed to serve them without a problem. I was still waiting and eventually a lady appeared from the back and served me. I think I must have waited a full seven minutes to be served at an almost empty bar!! Not a great start.
Meanwhile my wife and two of my children had found a table looking out over the picture that is the very beautiful view of the Lido, shame the window was so small…..
Food ordering is simple, go to the bar with your order and table number, pay there and then and they bring it to you. This was achieved without problem or delay. My children ordered two things from the children’s dedicated menu, I had liver and bacon and my wife went mad and had surf and turf, (steak and prawns). The meals arrived very promptly and WITH cutlery, wrapped in a somewhat soggy tissue.
My meal arrived in two dishes, the liver separate to the vegetables and in my opinion this is never a good sign (!) but, to be fair the Liver and Bacon was very good. It is a shame the same cannot be said of the mash, where first my children complained to me about it and I, who had not said anything about it to this point, had to agree. My younger daughter, aged seven, was the first to complain. Not a bad judge. It tasted and felt a bit like it had been reheated several times and as such had become rather compacted. Difficult to get the peas wrong, so I guess they were OK. My wife described her meal as "Very average". BUT, on the plus side, it was only £26.00 ish for four of us. The table was cleared very quickly after we had finished.
I decided to have a "Bread and Butter Pudding" for dessert and it was not bad at all, very hot in the middle suggesting it had been heated in a microwave, but I found it most enjoyable.
So to sum up. Clean and tidy, not the mess I had seen previously. But equally this was a very quiet night (!). The staff were very nice, even the lad who cleared off seemed charming before he went AWOL. This is NOT in my opinion a restaurant and as "pub grub" goes it was OK, but not as good as others I had been to, falling short by a fair bit actually. I am sure the staff are trying very hard and it is not their fault the building is terrible, but a few more notices and signs would not go amiss……..
Philip, Ruislip Online
And an answer from Fiona, the manager
If management continues in this way then they will not only lose customers, but also all their hard working staff. We will not return to this restaurant or be able to recommend it.
I have been to the Waters Edge pre and post refurbishment. The food
needed a lift pre-conversion but the service was good, food average, nice
setting.
I have returned to the Waters Edge today (8th May 2008) – and I can honestly
say that it has gone downhill. Firstly, the bar staff do not appear
experienced and do not know how serve people in the order in which they
arrive at the bar – this is a major problem when there it is not that busy.
Secondly, the queue to get served for food was far from good ( toned down
for publication). It took over 45 minutes standing in line to get served!
While waiting I asked the Manager to come out and see for himself, all I
received was excuses! The place is staffed by very inexperienced staff and a
lack of any management. Details will be put down on paper and forwarded to
the manager directly and the owner of the pub!!!
I am sure on a wet, windy day with just two people entering this
establishment – service will be improved. I will not be returning to Waters
Edge. The food when it finally was served, was at best described as
extremely average. Although it is clear I had a less than satisfactory
experience – I would seriously recommend taking a picnic and enjoying the
lakes and amusements but do not go to the Waters Edge.
Nick (May 08)
The comments below are from the original page written in 2001
Anything special?
The attractions around this pub are just to long to list here. If you have never been to Ruislip go to this pub NOW (perhaps at a time when it is closed) and take in the beauty all around it, remembering that the Lido was built as a feeder for the Grand Union canal. This is the nearest you will get to the seaside in London.
When this is the view from your pub's garden I guess you don't have to try that hard to get customers...
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