The Steamship, Blackwall, E14

On the walk from Blackwall DLR to the nearby hotels, this is a basic open room which as below you wouldn't class as comfortable. However, it is a friendly, decent place, that sells real ale. My Taylors landlord was fine and the sandwiches are good value. Small terrace out the back, its fine to pop in for a drink and/or light food.

I got the impression when walking in the door that this was a small one room pub, but it opens out on the right into a large bar/dining area leading to a smallish beer garden/smoking area at the back. It's bare-boarded throughout, and although the walls in the front bar are adorned with some naval/maritime prints, the absence of anything on the walls in the back bar give it a somewhat Spartan appearance. It's only a small thing, and not very important to me, but the walls would benefit from a few prints to break up the large flat surfaces. But maybe the intention is to create a cool, minimalist atmosphere? Anyway - there were a couple of large TVs showing a music channel. The real ales on were GKIPA and London Pride. I had the Pride (and at £2.80 a pint not unreasonable) which was not good, but drinkable. There was some food available (I was in there on a weekday lunchtime) consisting of some pretty basic pub grub at what appeared to be reasonable prices. As a guide, I had a tuna mayo baguette and a few chips for £3.50. The service was friendly enough, and perhaps I was a bit unlucky in not getting a good pint, so I would categorise this as an OK pub – nothing very special but OK. I would be happy enough to give it another go if I was in the area again.

A quite spacious L shaped pub that you will never find by accident! With new buildings springing up in this area at alarming rates, the Steam ship is a throw back to old Victorian alleyways and backstreets and seems at odds with some of the surroundings. The interior, however, lacks any real character or warmth; everything seems very square and plain. The décor is quite old fashioned with dated wallpaper, bare floors and old paneling with a mix of hard and soft furnishings. A set of small canal themed watercolours of the sort that tend to populate car boot sales adorn the rear walls. The front bar is quite narrow but has a pool table at one end whilst to the rear the pub opens up with part used for dining. At the very back is a walled outdoor patio area. The bar can get a bit congested as this seems to be where the masses gather although this usually consists of a leaving do or post work drink up. The remainder of the pub has always been empty on my 3 or 4 visits. Decent quality beers (Green King IPA / Wadworth 6X / London Pride) but don't expect all (or sometimes any) to be available. The 2 Plasma screens generally show Sky News or Sports, usually drowned by the jukebox. It is a decent enough place but it would be interesting to see how the place fared if there was some decent local competition.

Large single bar pub with large screen TVs and a pool table at the side. outside secluded drinking area. Only real ale (!) on was GK IPA. 5 minutes from Blackwall DLR station