Our original review follows.

The Flood and Firkin opened on 18 December 1997. The premises was the old Maidenhead Advertiser offices. This pub fits in well with the other Firkin pubs all round the country (there are around 165 and the first one opened in 1979). All the pubs are currently owned by Taylor Walker, which is a division of the brewing giant Carlsberg-Tetley. The Flood is large, with wooden flooring and a long bar down the right hand side. Food available at lunchtimes. The Firkin cost £600,000 to build and was named after the River Thames which occasionally floods parts of Maidenhead. The water theme continues inside with boating pictures on the walls. Some of the beers are exclusive to the pub, like Dam, Flood and Dangerous (in order of strength), these are brewed in Watford. Attracts a young crowd, occasional live bands. Tends to be very noisy in the evenings, cranking the jukebox volume to ridiculous levels such that you have to shout in ears to make yourself heard....we've never really seen the point in that.

In May 1998 Century 2000 Enterprises, who were involved in the building of this pub, have applied unsuccessfully for planning permission to turn numbers 86a-90 Queen Street into another pub. This was refused because of a borough policy that limits the number of non-retail properties in the area to 50%. One has to assume their long-term plan would be to knock the two pubs into just one?

Summer 2000: Reports that this pub is less popular, not very busy in the evenings. David Noble writes on 20 November 2000:

The Flood and Firkin was one of the most disappointing pubs I have visited in the town. Never before have I encountered such hostile and and unhelpful barstaff, who clearly need to attend courses in customer service. My recommendation to all would be to give it a wide berth.