Buccaneer, West Ham, E15

Traditional corner pub, now with a 'J'-shaped bar with a small stage between the front and side entrances plus a pool table at the far end. Plainly furnished, faded decor, worn carpets and horse racing on a couple of TVs. No real ale, of course, but at least it had Worthington's at £3.00.

There is no real ale here, and no sign of food when I visited on Friday afternoon. This looks to be a typical low-ceilinged basic backstreet pub. The exterior still has some nice original brown brewery tiling, but inside there's nothing of heritage interest. It's been completely opened up now, although the three doors (one now unused) and the ceiling plan show how the pub would once have been subdivided. This seems to be where Ireland meets West Ham. Irish flag bunting is strung around the bar gantry as well as across the front window, and there's more Irish and West Ham stuff all over the place. This is very much an orange, green, claret, and blue pub. It's carpeted apart from a quarry tiled splash area around the bar counter, and furnishings are very basic normal tables and chairs apart from a bit of upholstered bench seating on the right. There are several TVs of course, one of them giving an Irish view of some cricket, but this soon gave way to showing some horse racing. This is a very simple and ordinary pub. There was just a handful of locals in, plus a few younger customers playing pool at the table at the back on the left. This is the sort of unpretentious pub that I appreciate. The Guinness I had was OK (but served too cold for my taste obviously), but a decent real ale would be very welcome.