The Admiral Vernon, Dagenham

The Saloon and Lounge bars had no less than three pairs of handpumps between them, but no real ale on any of them. All they had on was keg John Smith’s and Courage Best, plus some of the usual bog standard lagers. There was no sign of any food in evidence (on a Wednesday lunchtime) – I suspect they don’t do any, though I didn’t ask. This is really a very basic three-bar inter-war pub. It doesn’t look like it has changed since it was built. The smallish Public bar is nothing special. The Saloon Bar has double doors leading to the Lounge, which were open, effectively making it one very large bar. The Saloon/Lounge has a pool table as well as the usual array of games machines and one-armed bandits. The furniture consists of settles around the walls plus normal tables and chairs. The service was friendly enough, although there were a couple of obvious regulars at the bar whose every other word was a swear word. This would make it a less than family friendly pub, although perhaps they would moderate their language if ladies or children were in – but they didn’t seem to make any concession to the fact that they were being served by a barmaid. Perhaps I am just being old-fashioned, but I didn’t think it was very nice. The only other item of note was the sign above the bar in the lounge “smile your (sic) on CCTV”. Priceless. Unless you’re interested in seeing one of the few remaining untouched examples of inter-war pub design, I wouldn’t bother.