The Market Porter, SE1

Nice old style exterior with a bare boarded interior and numerous beer mats on some walls and beams. 16 hand pumps on the u shaped bar.

Been several times. In the week, its been impossible to get onto the pavement. Much quieter on a Saturday lunch where a) I got to the bar and b) got a seat! Beer seemed in much better nick than on previous visits. A great pint of harveys sussex best. Some photos at my blog - http://bit.ly/2cYVT2P

Usual excellent selection of beers on offer yesterday and I was particularly pleased with Barnsley Gold, Kelham Island Pale Rider, and Titanic New World. I'm afraid that I have to disagree with the staff being 'friendly' though; if you are lucky they can be quick & reasonably professional but rarely smile and the trick of lobbing empty bottles from on-high into the bottle skip, causing a mini sound explosion each time, is particularly irritating. I know they are always busy, but that's not necessary. Still a top pub mind you, and always the meeting point when in the area.

We timed our Saturday lunchtime visit here quite well, as the majority of the market goers were still roaming around looking for something to eat. The pub had a good range of 12 ales and 3 ciders, so we settled on the Sunny Republic Guardian Angel. Glad to tick it off my list, as a pub tourist, but wouldn't be the sort of pub where you would want to spend much time in.

Although the pavement outside was as usual was heaving with market goers and sightseers there was room to be found in side the pub, on previous visits its been quite a battle to get to the bar,there were however a good few people in attendance to sample the range of beers available which as stated before not what you usually see that often but nothing really jumped out at you either.I settled on a pint of Art Brew - Baby Anarchist which had some decent flavour despite its fairly low abv of 3.2% but it didnt blow me away either.The Market Porter remains an iconic pub that should be on the must visit list when in the area.

Seems to be quieter now that the Wheatsheaf has re-opened.They have added 3 extra handpumps so an even bigger choice of beers.Beer from the back bar is always colder than the front bar for some inexplicable reason.Lots of rarely seen beers around London but are they anygood thats the problem.Hit and miss.