Weds Wrap – Access In Hammersmith & South Soho, An Unusual Staff Room & A Water Feature

Last week was the week when having a pee tried my patience!

First I went to The Hampshire Hog, a GastroPub in Hammersmith, which is owned by the team that ran The Engineer in Primrose Hill. The Engineer is a well known celeb hang out but not so here, not yet. It’s got more of a local feel and the food was great and definitely good value. I’d been before after a very cold football game at Fulham, it wasn’t very busy and the food wasn’t that exceptional. It just shows you should always give a place a second chance. This time I loved the salmon Bouillabaisse, the homemade bread and the wine list which featured classics from little known producers which keept the prices down e.g. a Viognier at £25.

The wheelchair access is via the courtyard garden at the back which I’m sure is packed in summer. There’s plenty of space but the paving may be an issue with sticks. There’s a disabled toilet just off the dining room which on the night we went doubled as a staff room. I did’t mind but they could use it whenever they liked whilst I had to wait for the key.

Nevertheless they get 2.5 BBS Ticks (Sorry to say this now 2 BBS Ticks following a recent problem with access see update here)

On Friday I paid a visit to the Archer Street cocktail bar in South Soho, as seen on Made in Chelsea, (according to my niece, I of course don’t watch it??). They say it has a..

“comfortable and sophisticated atmosphere, unique to Soho, where fabulous cocktails are mixed with flair and spontaneous entertainment is served up by the staff cast…..”

It’s all true and we had a great time there.

The cocktails were fine, a tad expensive and the Quincy Jones was a bit too tart for my taste. The DJ played early eighties music which included Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Glen Campbell. Not tunes I would normally put together but it seemed to work as we played guess the artist. The staff also joined in with songs and a microphone, they had great voices and it all seemed to be perfectly rehearsed, in an impromptu kind of way.

There’s flat access from Archer Street which is a bit narrow, with small pavements but people got out of my way! The downstairs bar was not accessible and there’s no disabled toilet as they’re upstairs. However, a lady with crutches did make it upstairs, holding the bannister and throwing her spare crutch in front of her.  I was told I could use the disabled toilet in Bocca Di Lupo across the road which we’ve previously reviewed so in the interests of research I went over to try it. (Lieutenant No 1 gave this full marks for ambience and he loved the food).

They were a little put out as it was rather busy but they did put down quite a steep ramp to give me wheelchair access and my very ‘slight’ friend Kate did manage to get me in without help. Their toilet is at the back of their smallish dining area and had all the grab rails etc. The only problem was the ‘Water Feature’ in the DT i.e. Mineral Water stored in boxes all along the wall right up to the toilet. This rendered moving the wheelchair to a transfer position impossible. I pointed this out to the manager and he told me the water/boxes disappeared during the evening session – that’s a lot of water. So I guess you just have to wait until the guests drink the place dry!!

Archer Street gets 2 BBS Ticks & Bocca Di Lupo keep their 2.5 BBS Ticks .

These lavatorial mishaps very nearly go on the BBS Bonfire but it was funny and the staff involved were all very eager to help so we’ll just have to wait to hear from our readers as to what needs to go up in smoke on 5th November, until then …..