The Victoria, Mile End, E3

The website for this one describes it as a dog friendly seafood gastro pub with a heated beer garden. Can’t comment on the dog bit or the heated beer garden as I didn’t have one and it was too dark to venture into the garden, but the seafood gastro pub bit seemed accurate enough. The reason the previous reviewer felt like he was drinking in a restaurant is that now it largely is closer to a restaurant than a pub, and despite the fact that the small L shaped bar supports a line of keg taps that included the usual Camden and Beavertown craft suspects and one average ale in the form of TT Landlord, I had the same feeling. I wasn’t here for food and the seafood on offer looked a cut above a plate of cockles, so suffice to say I didn’t linger long in this one. If you want to try a plate of oysters then this gastro pub may be worth a visit, but if it’s a decent beer in a pub atmosphere you are after, then there are plenty of better choices nearby and my recommendation would be to keep on walking to the nearby Lord Tredegar for example.

A mid-Victorian pub rebuilt in the 1930s for Charrington’s, situated opposite Mile End Park, recently refurbished and no longer the Goth horror den encountered by a former reviewer. Despite the lifting of plague protocols, I was chided by a member of staff for not manually listing my contact details and daring to stand at the bar, before being asked where I was sitting – I wasn’t – then being led to a table to be served by a waitress, the barman having taken my order; staff and customers were unmasked, rendering other measures meaningless. The floor is bare boarded in various stages, judging by the mismatched styles. There’s also a fair amount of Minton-style tiling too. Walls are half height white field panelled then bluish floral wallpaper up to a white ceiling, from which hang a combination of shades, metal or fluted glass, with fluted glass sconces. There are mostly large high tables and chairs, some are low and a pew was spotted along with an obligatory fawn coloured vinyl banquette. Décor comprises a few framed prints to walls, along with very large pot plants. I didn’t spot anything of heritage value, apart from perhaps the wooden bar and pot shelf which is all fairly ornate; lavs are modern and swanky. Customers were young, professional incomers apart from myself, as I’m neither. There were two clips, one reversed, the other dispensing Brewpoint’s Airship at a very painful £5.35 and a bit malty for my tastes and certainly too cold. This pub isn’t one to avoid, but there’s certainly better in this enclave; with the table service and décor, I felt more like I was drinking in a restaurant or – worse still – a tearoom.

Official site of The Victoria - www.yummypubs.co.uk

Official site of The Victoria - www.yummypubs.co.uk

A rather enterprising pub with numerous gimmicks, given a full refurb in some sort of trendy style. The island bar is surrounded by tabled areas, with a curious wood and wire netting partitioned coffee area at the front, and a strange small and cosy drinking room downstairs by the toilets. In the patio garden at the rear is a shuffleboard hut, a cocktail caravan and a Tuk-tuk doing something else. sadly the one thing they seem to be neglecting is the beer, with Marston's 61 Deep and Courage Directors on offer, alongside a charity brew, but neither in good form at all.

Recently refurbished, the opened-out 'U'-shaped interior of this Charles Wells corner pub has furniture and decor reminiscent of a Geronimo Inns outlet. Features a small section beside the main door partitioned-off with a slightly odd wire-mesh cage. Also has some café-style patio seating out front and a patio beer garden to the rear. Now has eight hand pumps on the counter, with Young's London Gold (£4.00) and Special, Bombardier, Dogfish DNA, Courage Best and Directors, plus Proper Job as a guest and a cider. Pleasantly relaxed atmosphere early on a Bank Holiday afternoon.