The Miller's Well, East Ham, E6

An old skool Spoons in every respect, from its fascia to its innards. Must be one of their earliest (Whatpub says 1993) as it is a pretty small affair with the pleasant faux Victoriana interior of the era and a small paved garden. Two guest ales, one of which huffed and died on pouring, so I went worth pints of ELB (NBSS 2) from a knackered pump which gave me an ice cream style feel, alongside a Ruddles (3) as I awaited the arrival of the day’s crawlees. I looked to be the only punter on the cask. Not surprised to see this one turn-up on the recent JDW disposals list; it’ll be a loss to the area I suspect.GBG’23 listed but dropped out of the ’24 Guide, so someone in the local CAMRA branch is paying attention.

As others have noted, very much an old school Spoons, in the panelled drawing room with old photos style and complete with a clientele very firmly in the 'old geezer' category. Somehow it does not seem as large as it looks from the outside, although there is a patio area to the rear as well as pavement tables at the front. Beerwise, and despite a Good Beer Guide listing, just Sambrooks Wandle alongside the usual trio, and not in the best of condition either. Disappointing.

Initial impressions won’t get you very far with this place – an old-school Wetherspoons pub on the run-down main road through the middle of East Ham can’t be many people’s idea of a night out – but once inside, this turns out to be quite a pleasant and smart boozer that makes a nice spot to relax in for a pint or two. You enter directly into the main bar area which occupies the left-hand side of the pub, with the servery along the left wall. The pub is split into two halves by a dividing wall which runs through the centre of the pub from front to back, creating a relatively secluded seating area away from the bustle of the bar. The servery has a nice dark wood counter with a stone top and traditional mirrored bar back plus some framed pictures across a high canopy. The front part of the room is the only bit that has been opened out and is filled for the most part with standard tables and chairs. Further back, high tables and stools compete for space in the narrow area opposite the bar before the room opens out a little to the rear, where a good deal more basic seating can be found. Moving round to the right-hand side of the pub, you find yourself in a well presented space with plush carpets, dark wood panels and a lincrusta ceiling. Tables and chairs run front to back down the left side whilst nice upholstered banquette booths are lined up opposite, separated from one another by full height etched and stained-glass partitioning panels. Each booth sports some rather nice decorative tile features and they have old local photographs on the end wall. Elsewhere, this side of the pub has been decorated with some large artworks depicting local landmarks such as Beckton Gasworks, which sounds drab but works surprisingly well, whilst the usual ‘Spoons information boards are clustered towards the rear of the room. The pub has twelve handpulls split into two banks of six which were both identically clipped, offering a choice between four guest ales and two ‘Spoons regulars. The lone barman was supremely efficient, dealing with several orders at once and even finding time for pleasantries whilst pouring multiple pints simultaneously. He dished up a very good pint of Brentwood Chockwork Orange which suggested there is a good level of cellarmanship going on here. Old-fashioned Wetherspoons pubs like this are two-a-penny all across London, but I thought this one had been nicely put together and benefitted from the split room, which helped give the right-hand side of the room a proper pub-feel. This combined with friendly, efficient service and a cracking pint of beer left me with a very favourable impression.

I'm not certain why it's called Miller's Well - among the usual 'spoons array of photos of local scenes I saw mention of both Max Miller and Chaucer's miller. Well, my Miller's Tale involved a pint of Sambrook's Junction and a traditional breakfast for a bit over a fiver. Whatever else you say about 'spoons, you can't deny they're value for money. Inside it's as good as other 'spoons I've been in. There are booths along the side, and the rest of the furnishings don't seem to be quite as squashed in as most 'spoons. There's a small garden at the back and some more outside seating on the pavement at the front. Both outside areas have loads of flowering baskets festooned with flowers which inproves the appearance of the place immensely. Based on one early doors visit I would rate this 'spoons as above average, even though the ale selection wasn't as good as most'spoons. Apart from the usual suspects (Ruddles, Doom Bar, Abbot) they had on an East London Brewery oatmeal stout; Sambrook's Junction; and Truman's Runner (which finished as soon as the barmaid started to pull it), Maybe on another occasion the beer selection would be better, and maybe in the evening it would be a different place to the relatively quiet pub I found at early doors on Friday.

I came here today to visit the Miller's Well and I think I can safely say that I have never ever drank beer before in the postal district of E6. It's a fairly typical Spoons shop conversion, slightly better than most. The Steenbrugge Dubbel Bruin was immaculate and I got chatting to one of the customers. He was adamant that this was the cheapest Spoons anywhere, which leads me to my only problem with it. The Steenbrugge here was £2.40 as opposed to £1.99 in all the dozen or more Spoons I had been to for the festival. The staff claimed that it was standard to charge more for the stronger beers, which I agree is normal Spoons practice, so are all the other Spoons doing it wrong or is this the only one doing it right? I had noticed that the banners all said festival beers FROM £1.99, but this is the only one I visited that wasn't £1.99 for everything. The very opulent George Hotel in affluent Hailsham East Sussex was selling the same beer for a mere £1.89. It's worth a visit if you are in the area, but to be honest there is little competition as the only other pubs I noticed seemed to be music venues or shrines to the local football club. I won't be back as this part of London isn't very accessible for me and there is absolutely nothing else to attract me to the area.