The Old Crown, Leytonstone, E11

There were two ales from the Five Points Brewery on - the massive hopbomb that is XPA, and in contrast the Railway Porter. Both were in excellent condition. A third pump had a reversed clip, and I saw no sign of food (other than condiment rays on a central table) when we visited at around 12.30 on a Wednesday. I didn't buy the round so don't know the prices of the beers. I've seen a photograph of the interior of this pub from about 50 years ago when it was The Crown. It couldn't be more different now. Then it still had the Victorian mahogany stillion in the middle of the central servery, as well the screening separating the bars, including etched and cut glazing. It's very different now, having been completely opened up, and the bar counter moved to the back wall. It does still have a bit of tiling near the side window where there would once have been a entrance, but it's been badly knocked about over the years. Also, the side entrance in Aylmer Rd still has most of the vestibule intact, including a bit of the original Charrington's green banded glazing. Aqualung's comparison with an Antic pub is still valid. But as it was around midday when we visited it was very bright as the largish windows let in a lot of natural light. This allowed us to see what a bizarre place it had become; appropriate I guess as it's named after the bizarre film produced by local celebrity Sir Alfred Hitchcock. The table tennis table still dominates the centre of the room; birdcages (sans birds) hang from the ceiling; a rack on the wall has twenty or so stuffed black birds perched on it; a bank of sweet dispensers near the end of the bar counter dispense seeds instead of sweets (with a sign underneath that helpfully informs us that birdseed is for birds); a pommel horse is doing service as a three-seater tall stool; and there were other things I didn't recognise and whose purpose or use I couldn't fathom. Furnishings are cheap second hand tables and chairs, but with a few sofas around. All very Antic! I would put this above the Khazi grading of a previous reviewer, mainly because the two ales were in such good condition.

This is the third incarnation this place has had since being the Bass Charrington Crown. As the Sheepwalk it was mostly noted for knuckle dragging lager swilling morons then Tommy Flynn gave up on it and it became the Laine's owned Birds in the Spring. It's a rather bare open plan square room with furnishings that look like they've been stolen from a local school. The decor is of the drab unfinished Antic style and the whole place seemed quite dark. For some reason a central area of the room has a table tennis table in it. There also seems to be a picture of David Beckham projected on one wall. I wonder what the helium voiced one would make of that. There are just three hand pumps that I couldn't read as it was so dark. One had 1 Mile End Hospital Porter on which had gone off so I went for the Electric Bear Livewire. This was slightly on the warm side but OK apart from that. The trouble is it cost an extortionate £5.00. I thought this place was an overpriced khazi.