The White Horse, Chelmsford

This is a nice old-fashioned corner pub at the end of a quaint row of cottages, a short walk from the station. You enter to a simple bare boarded room with the servery down the left hand wall and a small seating area to the the front under the leaded front windows with their colourful banding. The servery has a lovely dark wood counter with an oak leaf design running round the front, copper foot rails and pillars holding the decorative canopy topped with white horse statuettes. The bar back also has nice detailing and is fitted with a lot of plain mirrors. There is a drinking ledge with high stools along the wall opposite the bar, split by some nice mini-partitioning screens with circular etched glass inserts. More leaded windows with banding and portrait inserts can be seen along this side of the pub before the room opens out beyond the bar into a spacious rear area. This raised space has homely wallpaper, old dressers and some tatty looking pouffes and armchairs, with short partitioning screens along the right hand wall topped with panes showing the pub's name offering a little privacy. This area was dominated by the large pull down screen showing live football which complimented the two TV screens around the bar area. A dartboard resides in the rear corner and I also noticed the day's papers laid out for customers to browse through. There were three ales on at the bar - Taylor Landlord, Thwaites Wainwright and Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild - plus one real cider and a few unclipped pumps. The Mild was in pretty good shape which was handy as I was here to watch the football and easily sank a few pints throughout the course of the match. The TV screens were showing a music channel when I entered, but upon enquiring, the friendly barmaid put the match on for me and soon a few other punters had drifted in to watch the game as well. I found this a very hospitable back street pub with a warm welcome, pleasant locals and a decent drop of ale. It was originally my plan to watch the first half of the match here and the second in the nearby Ship, but I enjoyed this place so much, I ended up staying from kick-off to final whistle. A proper pub and a good option to have in mind when looking for a boozer at this end of town.

I didn't see a large selection of real ales yesterday and both the Broadside and the Mild were badly drawn and flat as a pancake. Unlike Camra's 'full-pint' club I prefer the aesthetics of a head on my beer and some life in the flavour. It won't be on my list next time.

A long and narrow one roomed pub with an elaborately carved dark wood bar along a side wall. Boarded flooring, there is a nice old fireplace in the front area, lots of pictures of horses plus a horses head affixed to the chimney breast, old clocks to the rear and antlers over the entrance door. The windows are amber banded and with Toby figures as well as a chap in a top hat so I assume a previously Charrington house although the banding does not have the usual green corners. Barrels for vertical drinking are provided opposite the servery, mostly sofas elsewhere but probably due to space limitations than anything. Eight handpumps, Mighty Oak Captain Bob plus also Oscar Wilde, Cottage Old Duchess, Slack Alice cider, one reversed and three not clipped. No signs of food on Saturday afternoon. TVs were showing a mix of cricket and football while low level music played. Service was friendly and efficient, the sprinkling of customers were mostly solitary blokes engaging occasionally with one another and the barmaid. A nice pub.

This is a small long narrow pub that looks like it may have once been a Bass Charrington house. My visit came when there was a football match blasting out across the narrow room along with lots of people propping up and blocking the bar while taking little notice of the football. I couldn't see too many beers that were on but spotted Oscar Wilde Mild (£3.00) and took it to the end of the pub away from the footbore only to find some other rubbish sport blaring from another TV that nobody at all was watching. The only item of interest here was a table arcade game with a big selection of games from the 1980s. The mild was nice enough but I didn't like the pub at all and will definitely not return.

The pub was taken over by a new manager in Nov 2011 and he has turned this pub into an outstanding gem of a place. There's a couple of small tables out in the front as it only has a small frontage, but the pub certainly goes back. You get a good welcome when visiting and they are passionate about their ales. There's fabulous viewing for watching sport and comfortable seating throughout. Seven ales on handpump Mighty Oak Captain Bob, Mighty Oak Dove T'ale, Nethergate Bitter Growler, Hewitts Opus no4, Exmoor 1952-2012, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold and Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild. I tried six out of the seven and all were equally as good as the other. Will defo return.