The Rising Sun, St. Pauls, EC4

I thought this was quite a good, basic boozer, with a decent crop of customers and a warmer atmosphere than you get in most places round here. As at yesterday lunchtime, the outside of the pub was in the middle of a repaint and the upstairs restaurant was closed for refurbishment, The main, single room with its small horseshoe bar was very much open however, with three handpulls serving Woodforde’s Wherry (a good pint at £3.60) and Young’s Ordinary, and the third with a reversed Ringwood Fortyniner clip on it. Two screens used for Sky Sports were muted and rather pointlessly displaying Bargain Hunt whilst I was there, and free wi-fi was also advertised. I cringed for a moment as the barman put a pretty ropey rendition of ‘Silent Night’ on the sound system at considerable volume, but from others’ reactions figured he was jovially experimenting with the beginning of December. There is nothing remarkable about this pub but I reckon it’s a decent place to go for a pint or two.

The Rising Sun is a basic U-shaped bar that I felt had a very rundown feel and I’m sure that it has seen much better days. To the left of the bar is a coffee making area with kettle etc and around to the right is an open fire. There is a plasma screen each side of the bar which compliment the projector screen when showing Sky Sports. The usual draught suspects can be found on the bar along with San Miguel and the three hand pumps were drawing Ordinary, Pride and Spitfire. The Guinness was well served by a friendly enough barman, but I had to begrudgingly hand over £2 for a half. There is a Thai restaurant, that also does take-away, upstairs and it is open on weekdays from midday until 15:00 and 17:30 until 22:30. I felt like I had been a little ripped off as I left because I thought the surroundings didn’t warrant the prices. I cannot see a return visit as there are better and much cheaper pubs in the area.

Unremarkable pub, which looks better on the outside than it is inside. The interior is pretty dull; it looks like it may have been a lot better a few years back but has had it's guts ripped out since. Three mainstream ales - Spitfire, Pride and Youngs - my Sheps was pretty good. I doubt I’d make an effort to seek the place out again though.