The Elephant & Wheelbarrow

good location, easy going and nice to have a beer outside

This was our first pub experience in Australia and it wasn’t terrible. It’s hard to judge quality of things because it was our first experience and lots of things that turned out to be pretty standard felt weird. For the benefit of other travelers:
— you need to go to the bar to order your food, and then go to the window to pick it up when it’s ready
–there are so many pre-​mixed drinks… try the premixed captain and cola
Later in the night the atmosphere was more fun, and we enjoyed dancing.
The biggest downside for me was the crowd of (what I presume to be) regulars. If I went up to the bar, to the washroom, danced or otherwise left the safety of our table, I was bombarded by incredibly intoxicated men, even early in the evening. I’m not talking about getting hit on, that’s life, but being touched and grabbed, men blocking my way, and very vulgar comments in general. The best part? It was a Sunday. Really folks?

English themed pub… maybe in the daylight.
Arrived late on a Friday night with some friends because it was open and had a live band.
The band played all the classic pub songs. Slowly getting my hearing back the next day tells me it was way too loud but seemed a good idea at the time
Has an outdoor area for smokers but they kept all the doors to the outside open for fresh air which blew a good proportion of the smoke back inside.
Tried not to think about the state of the carpet I was standing on.
The crowd was a mixture of ages from those just old enought to get into pubs to those who remember the Rolling Stones first world tour
Would not go back if I had a choice

I went on a Tuesday night. It was an interesting crowd. There were older men having beers, young girls getting ready for a night out (or maybe that was their day wear) and a group of younger gentlemen gathering tables together to play Magic: Th Gathering (Yes, that’s right; Magic. For those that don’t know it’s a card game with pictures of characters that battle.) Let’s just say the atmosphere is that crowd in a country style English pub.
I ordered the special for the night; Chicken Parmesan and a beer for $ 15. I have to say that it wasn’t bad for pub food. My food came out timely and hot.
There are better pubs in the world but I’ve never seen one with a better name. Perhaps it’s some English joke that I just don’t think I’ll ever understand like the eclectic crowd that gathers there.

I visited here last Sunday (13−5−12) it wasn’t a bad spot. Just wouldn’t be for me didn’t have the atmosphere I like in a pub. But it was fine for what I wanted that night which was to watch soccer (English premier league). I sat down the back area which was sectioned off from the rest of the pub & a good note even tho a live band were playing I could still hear the commentary from the match… So wouldn’t be a place for me to go on a night out but certainly a place to go and watch sports…

Sleaze personified. I’m sorry but this place is the dregs. If you want to pick up and you’re not fussed what the calibre of your catch is — come here.
Sadly, I used to all too often frequent this dive bar with a group of good friends. We loved the music: stuff we could dance to, 80s and 90s classics. I must say, being quite a lot younger too, I think we had a much higher threshold for gross gropers. These days, there is nothing I hate more than a sweaty fatty who thinks it’s obligatory to whack me on the ass when I wander by.
Try not to look too enthusiastic. The patrons will mistake your gleeful smile for an open invitation to fumble over, spill copious amounts of drink on you and generally disgust you to epic proportions.
I went there with a mate sometime last year, bargaining that the music was good to dance to so we could go and have a fun time for a few hours. Wrong. The band was terrible, the lead singer was a self-​obsessed moron and the place was so crowded that we had no room to spread our dancing wings.
Having ranted on about how much I hate this place I feel obliged to say that it does serve a purpose. A lot of people love it and I used to be one of them. Just remember not to come here if you want an undisturbed evening, dancing the night away with a few friends.

The Elephant & Wheelbarrow is an English themed pub with a large terrace area overlooking Lake Street in Northbridge. Like most themed pubs it veers more on the cheesy side, than being an authentic taste of the country it is supposed to be representing. The crowd is largely old men or underage girls, a lot of them ex-​pats from the old country. The Beatles tribute night is pretty good but nothing much else would get me to go to this place.

I haven’t been to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow when the place has been packed and the descriptions of it in the other reviews make me glad of the fact. But I have been there for a weekday lunch and found that it actually wasn’t that bad. Empty but for a few lone backpackers, and a table of businesspeople who looked like they were having a meeting, it was actually kind of inviting: we had, after all, the run of the place.
While the place brands itself as a British-​style pub, the isles’ influence on the menu is minimal. My girlfriend had a vegetarian stir-​fry; I ate a very Australian lamb burger. Neither meal was especially amazing, but both were edible enough. The wine – the list is bare-​boned, but at least the by-​the-​glass options are cheap – washed it all down, in any case.
Sitting outside in the sun was probably the highlight. I’m not sure whether it would be as pleasant at night. Again, the other reviews would suggest that isn’t…

Everywhere has its ups and downs but the Elephant and Wheelbarrow seems to have more downs than ups. Its handy for watching European rugby and soccer as they have a number of TVs dotted around the bar, this much I will grant them. Watching sport in here however isn’t usually by choice, more because nowhere else is showing it.
What is the story with the carpet? Its 2011, come on! Beer + Drunk People = Spillage + farts = (inevitably) smelly floors. I would like to say I will avoid this place but when it comes to Six Nations Rugby and the choice is Rosie O’Grady’s or the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, its a matter of weighing up the bad with the worse.

This is supposed to be an English bar but there are probably more Irish people here than English. It’s a strange place, it can seem both empty and packed at the same time because it’s a pretty big venue, but on a Friday and Saturday night everyone in the place wedges themselved into the back room in front of the (pretty rubbish) bands that play here on these nights.
My boyfriend and his friends have termed the place ‘the Granny grabber’, because every time they come here they get hit on by considerably older ladies, so beware! If you’re in the right mood you can have a good time here, just make sure you are willing to put up with a lot of drunken lads and a very sweaty dancefloor!