Ferry Boat Inn, Tottenham Hale, N17

A very thorough review from Tris doesn't need much added from me about this Stonegate eatery.The ale options on my trip were Doom Bore,Adnams Ghost Ship and ELB Jamboree (NBSS 3.5,£5.65 ) .Both ELB Cowcatcher and Redemption Pale were "coming soon".The service was friendly and the light bite lunch menu offered a very good fishcake and salad for £9. I didn't like the brightly lit advertising board with rotating adverts,and although the pub garden is large,the River Lee at this point is more a muddy stream,the days of a ferry being required was before all the flood prevention measures and the building of vast resevoirs. The real fires were kicking out some good heat on a cold day,and at least the mindless muzak was played at background volume.It's not a bad pub,mainly food orientated but is fine for just drinking and does at least offer some real ale.A short walk from the Lee Navigation.

Dating from the early 18th century, this may have once been a coaching inn, having a commanding view out over Walthamstow Wetlands – or ‘reservoir’ to you and me – from the enormous beer garden, punctuated by white hanging lights on my late evening visit; there’s a huge customer car park, but customers have to pay to use it. On entering, the first thing you notice is the substantial old fireplace in its natural bare brick state. It’s a multi-roomed affair having been subjected to a hotchpotch of trendified/gastrofied clichés: white bar back with dark shiny ceramic tiles and tubular steel gantry, flagstone floor or patterned tiling or carpet, duck egg blue, mid-grey and white paintwork, mixed zoned furniture, pretentious circular wire shelving hosting ceramics which probably come from the likes of Toast Homewares or Muji, flowers in bottles on tables, trendy blown glass lanterns with filament bulbs or spun metal shades; the ugly games machine is highly incongruous, less so the needless TV, sound off, Ainsley Herriot grinning away; in all, it’s a bit like an upmarket Harvester. Customers were painfully few, with two scruffy builders in their plaster encrusted work clothes, presumably not the image the pub wants to foster. The ale range wasn’t up to much, with a reversed clip, then Pride ‘coming soon’, Doom ‘coming soon’, ELB Cowcatcher ‘coming soon’ and Southwold at a reasonable £2.50 a half on decent form, served by a couldn’t-be-arsed barman, a second half pulled by a more forthcoming barmaid. This really isn’t a great pub. It has been far too made over with little or no respect for its heritage, but as there’s little near here, the best advice is not to come here; the pay-to-use customer carpark is a bit of a cheek too.

Official site of Ferry Boat Inn - www.classicinns.co.uk

Official site of Ferry Boat Inn - www.classicinns.co.uk

There are five handpumps on the bar, but only two were in use on Friday afternoon, with two having clips reversed and another unclipped. The two ales on were Goddard’s Fuggle, and Hackney Brewery Broadway Blond (£3.40 a pint). A fairly extensive pubco style menu was available at fairly reasonable prices – the standard burger with the usual extras was £8.15. It doesn’t seem to have changed much since since the previous reviewer's visit a few years ago. It's very corporate inside, with plenty of bucket armchairs around the place; staff kitted out in black; and faux chalkboards all over the place with various offers as well as an invitation to book an area for your private party. And there are enough interconnected drinking areas in this rabbit warren of a pub to be able to spare one or two for a private party. It really is a rambling old affair, and despite its corporate pubco feel it still retains the aura of a real pub. There are well worn beams on the ceilings, and although I suspect that not all are providing any structural function, they look good nonetheless. One of this pub's main attractions is the lovely garden area at the back on the banks of the Lea. It also has a car park - another sign of a country pub. I suspect that I may have been a bit unlucky finding three of the five handpumps not in use, but I was very happy with my pint of Broadway Blond. This is a decent enough pub.

Randomness Guide to London - Ferry Boat Inn entry

Randomness Guide to London - Ferry Boat Inn entry

In some ways a rather dull, food-orientated chain pub; but if you arrived there blindfolded it would be almost impossible to work out that it had a N17 postcode. The extensive beer garden out the back must be a major attraction on hot summer weekends, but was a quiet, relaxing spot for a pint when I visited. Unsurprisingly, the interior has a slightly corporate feel but this is largely due to the signage, menus, promotional material and bossy signs from "The Management" (with the building itself retaining a reasonable amount of character). Three handpumps - Greene King IPA, a good pint of Doom Bar (£3.10) plus one other with what looked like a Pride clip turned round.

The Tottenham area isn't noted for its quaint historic waterside hostelries so finding the Ferry Boat Inn initially comes as a bit of a pleasant shock. Originally the base for a ferry that crossed the River Lea (which was presumably a bit wider than it is now) it was made into a pub in 1738. From the outside, it has the appearance of a country dining pub but it is geared as much for comfortable drinking as it is for leisurely dining. The rambling interior has undergone fairly extensive refurbishments but does at least still retain a kind of old farmhouse style with flag stoned floors and a couple of large brick wood burning fireplaces. The central main bar is quite open with a couple of narrower but good sized areas tucked down the sides of the pub, tucked away behind the remnants of the retaining walls. The décor is of a rustic nature without being particularly interesting, a few settles and old dressers, some old pictures of the Tottenham area (including one of an 1895 Tottenham Hotspurs (sic) match) but overall it is a bit generic. Behind the pub is a pleasant and fairly large beer garden that runs alongside the River Lea with plenty of seating. There were 3 Ales on my visit but nothing to get excited about - Green King IPA, Adnams and Bombardier (not available). The Adnams was drinkable but so cloudy it looked like it had been scooped out of the adjoining reservoir which was disappointing for a Cask Marquee accredited pub. The IPA was much better (and I don't often put that in a review). Since the area is largely a Real Ale desert, anything on offer becomes a plus point but you can't help thinking that the place should be aiming at something a little more imaginative if it really wants to step up a level. It should be noted that the wine list and food menu looked very reasonable although I have not tried either to date. Due to the lack of any realistic competition, the Ferry Boat is certainly well above average for the area and does have a lot of appeal but it just lacks that bit of extra detail and effort that would make it a pub to go out of the way for.