Woodins Shades, Bishopsgate, EC2

Nicholsons pub, located a few yards from Liverpool St station. Black exterior with a lovely stained glass panel above the door containing the pub name. Internally, it’s a long room with some partitioned booth seating (with nice glass panelling in the booths) running along one wall. The dark wooden bar back is a lovely specimen. There’s a dining room (‘Traders Bar’) upstairs, unexplored by me. A full set of seven ales at the bar (ETA’s eye must have been playing tricks!) with interesting guests, a number of which were Scottish. My Dark Dunster was very good and the follow-up of Scottish Borders Wild Harvest was even better, impressive given it wasn’t too far past midday. I felt the service was a little gruff and slapdash – I had to correct being short-changed. Service aside, I thought that this was a good visit overall and if this is the average beer quality I’d happily drop by again.

A large Nicholson's corner pub which still has a cosy feel to it despite being busy and on the main drag. The interior is well restored and sympathetic to the historic building. The staff were friendly and in some cases easy on the eye. The clientele were mostly well-behaved and included diners, passers-by and a bunch of middle-aged pub crawlers. There only seemed to be 4 ales on, but we were invited to try a couple before buying. I had Scottish Borders Wild Harvest and Broughton's Dark Dunster, both in superb condition. Handy for Liverpool St Station and a good addition to a crawl.

If you're a regular in a London Nicholson's outlet, this one's not going to hold too many surprises for you: lots of dark wood, a bit of history, a reasonable food offering (this one has a dining room upstairs as well as the bar meals). And, of course, some reasonable beer: 2 of the 7 pumps offered Doom Bar & London Pride, but the other 5 were a bit more left-field and enjoyed by all. The keg taps were a little more interesting than most pubs, with Blue Moon among the offerings. Our Saturday lunchtime visit probably found the pub at its best. Given the proximity to Liverpool Street Station, I suspect Friday at 5.30 may be somewhat different.