Williams Ale & Cider House, Bishopsgate, E1

An old style pub , handy for Liverpool street Station:three main drinking areas, ably described by previous scribes. Late afternoon on a windy August Saturday. Fairly quiet.I'd hoped to spot some hipsters with ironic beards, but everyone was cleanshaven. I’d also, more importantly, hoped to find some exciting beers from some of the new London micros that we country bumpkins hear so much of. Unfortunately the beers that I’d tried (from London Fields and Trumans) were rather lacklustre. Date visited :16th August 2014

Tucked away down a narrow side street close to Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields Market, this place has transformed itself in recent years from a basic Greene King pub to arguably the best ale house in this part of London. As the slightly expanded name now suggests, ale and cider is the main driver for this pub and a recent mid-week visit certainly found plenty for the discerning drinker to choose from. Two banks of hand pulls either side of a partitioning wall that divides the servery in two, were dispensing Ha’penny London Particular and Brinx Gold, Jo C’s Bitter Old Bustard, Adnams Lighthouse, Sambrooks No 5 Barley Wine, London Fields Harvest Ale, Head in a Hat Tommy, Trumans Swift and a house beer, presumably from Greene King, called Spitalfields Brew. Weston’s Old Rosie and Thatchers Heritage Cider took up the final pumps. There were also three of those ‘in vogue’ keg taps on the bar back, which had Lagunitas IPA and two other exotic options to compliment a strong range on the bar counter keg taps. It’s a fairly bewildering choice, especially when you have to move between bars to figure out the entire range, but I ended up with a pretty good pint of the London Particular. The pub itself is a fairly smart affair split across three clearly demarcated areas, each with similar décor and furnishings. You enter into the bare boarded main room with the servery midway down the left hand wall. There is a large mirror, a Finnegan’s Wake clock, some old black and white photos and various bits of framed breweriana on show alongside a nice “Whitechapel E1” sign and several blackboards. Seating here is confined to the perimeter, mostly in the shape of high tables and stools and some drinking ledges, with plenty of vertical drinking space in the centre. The right hand wall has exposed brickwork formed into a series of arches which lead through to a seating area made cosier by low level lighting and lit candles on each table. Some padded bench booths can be found in the rear right corner, with standard tables and chairs elsewhere and a large TV screen was mounted to the rear, but turned off in favour of a pretty funky soundtrack. The final section can be found by passing along the bar into the rear of the pub where you’ll find some button backed banquettes, another TV screen, a book swap and a closed dartboard case. This is perhaps the least appealing part of the pub, but acts as good overspill and has additional vertical drinking space, should it be needed. Greene King seem to be slowly coming around to the idea that they can produce pubs like this and still make a truck load of money, so I’m all for supporting such a venture. I’d say this is the best place for a quick pre-train pint in the vicinity of the station and longer visits offer the chance to work through all those lovely hand pumps.

A good addition to the real ale/cider scene. A front bar on the left selling a good range of real ales with a bar at the back selling a selection of ales and ciders. A drinking area at the side. The Hackney Calypso I hade was in top form and at £3.90 a pint about the norm for the area. A couple of minutes walk from Liverpool St. Station.

Now run by the Metropolitan Pub Company, the Williams does the 'ale & cider house' thing rather well. Comprises several rooms, partly opened out, with all the bare brick and dark wood that you would expect. Limited furniture in and around the bar, but some booths and lighter decor in the side seating area. Seven handpumps on the front counter, the same again at the back and three gravity taps at the back (with one dispensing a cider). Opted for a London Fields Chocolate Porter (£3.90), but the ale choice was excellent. Well worth seeking out.

Off down a side-street near Liverpool St station, this place has decided to go full-pelt towards the craft beer market; I was amazed to find out that this is owned by Greene King (‘Capital’ pub co, apparently). I counted 14 pumps, though only six were actually operational with beer, two others were badged as Westons cider. Three drinks of some description were also available from taps behind the bar. Most of the beers were either from London or the east of England (bar one house beer which appears to be little more than a re-badged GK interloper – unmarked as being from Bury St Edmunds of course). After some umming and ahhing I went for the London Fields Shoreditch Triangular which came out rather well. The interior has a lot of exposed brick, with two rooms separated by architecturally pleasing brick arches. Pervading smell of damp was rather off-putting. Left-field music choice, was pleased to hear Beth Orton get five minutes through the speakers. Daily papers available, always a good sign. There was also a madly-painted upright piano which I assume was tuned given comments elsewhere. Meet the brewer sessions advertised for Wednesday evenings. I did really enjoy this one and would make a point of returning here sooner rather than later.