The William Morris, E17

The former College Arms is now the William Morris Walthamstow and describes itself as a bar and quality fish and steakhouse. It is not an original pub but started out as an American bar called Cheeks before Wetherspoons came along some time in the mid eighties and turned it into one of their earlier outlets. It used to get rammed as there was little opposition in those days and zero opposition at all within a sensible walking distance. Sadly Wetherspoons sold it off in the early nineties when Devenish took it over. Devenish was taken over by Greenalls who in the late nineties sold out to Scottish and Newcastle which became part of the global abomination called Heineken who as far as I can make out still own the place. After Wetherspoons sold out the climate of the pub slowly changed from "Ale House" to "Sports Bar". By the dawn of the new millennium it had become a Sports Bar with no real ale, a pool table and TV screens, thus putting it in a high position on my avoid list. The original Wetherspoons pub was two shops knocked together and in post Wetherspoons days the end shop of the terrace was added. The exterior has changed from a cream paint and brown stained wood to a pale blue upper and darker blue lower with a hand painted name and decorative effects. Inside it is somewhat dark and rather than a carpet there is what looked like a laminate floor. As far as I could see on my Friday afternoon visit I was the only punter. Gone are the TV screens and pool table which is a good thing in my book. On the bar there was a bank of eight handpumps which is where the big "BUT" comes in. Of the eight pumps two were unclipped and the others had London Pride, Deuchar's IPA, St Austell's Tribute, Directors, Caledonian Gift Wrapped and a house beer called E17. To some that might look like a good selection but to me it was a completely predictable and boring collection from the Heineken "approved" list of ales. I have no doubt that the house beer is something really boring like Courage Best. I tried the Caledonian Gift Wrapped (£3.50) which to be fair was in very good condition. Ironically this beer is on the current Xmas Spoons list so if I had seen it in either of their nearest outlets it would have been £1.50 less. This place seems to have gone from one extreme to another. It's gone from a run down "Sports Bar" to a frankly rather fake imitation of a trendy Islington pub. It might have helped if it was an original old pub but it is blindingly obvious that it is three combined shops. The vital missing ingredient is an interesting ale selection, ideally with something from one or two of the numerous new microbreweries in North East London but if as I believe Heineken still own it I can't see that ever happening. The Bell just down the road or the Rose and Crown a bit further are miles better than this. The opening hours are limited, 16:00-23:00 Mon To Thurs, 12:00-23:00 Fri, Sat and 12:00-17:00 Sun.

The sight of a single handpump clipped with Theakston's Lightfoot was a welcome surprise on entering, and things improved when I was told it was on special - at £1 a half, and presumably £2 a pint. But that was the high point as it turned out to be in poor condition, and there was nothing else I wanted to drink. This just didn't strike me as a real ale drinker's pub. There was no food available on Wednesday lunchtime. There was also a very strong smell of cleaning products so it was probably just as well that there was no food on, but there again I was in there very early at just after noon so perhaps they had just finished cleaning. This is a fairly large pub, with what looked like modern replacement paneling, had the bar counter on the left, and a food counter in a separate drinking area to the right. It had just normal tables and chairs as far as I could see. Other items of possible interest were the presence of a pool table and dartboard, and free wi-fi is advertised. I doubt whether this is a pub I'll return to.