Chequers, Walthamstow, E17

Visited 20/04/26 Three hand pumps, two dispensing and offering TT Golden Best and the Cowcatcher APA from East London Brewing Co. Keg offering of Amstel, Red Stripe, Neck Oil, the Gulp! pilsner from Pretty Decent, Five Points Pale, Moretti, Guinness, Murphy's Irish Stout, Lucky Saint, Beavertown Gamma Ray, Inch's. Apart from extra bits, essentially a U-shaped venue with the bar counter following the internal layout, the front of which faces the entrance off the High St and offering tall stool seating at the bar counter. It is bare boarded and there is a small area to the immediate left of the entrance offering seating on a large dark brown leather Chesterfield sofa, and some games machines. To the right of the entrance is a slightly raised area with a variety of seating options including some further leather furniture in the front / side windows. Off the left-hand side of the bar counter and down a step is another seating area with tables laid for diners, and most of the seating provided by green leather banquettes around the outside perimeter of the space. Beyond the end of the left-hand side of the bar counter is another room with crimson leather banquettes around most of its perimeter supporting regular tables, the area also housing a pool table and a dart board. There is some covered seating outside at the right edge of the venue and a beer garden at the rear providing a mix of covered and uncovered seating. Several TVs showing live sports, no commentary, and a very low-key pop soundtrack being played. All told, although a bit quiet on my visit and so lacking a bit of ambience, thought this was a decent pub, albeit it does feel a bit sprawling.

This pub is well described by previous reviewers. It's much bigger than it appears from the High St, with a couple of rooms in addition to what I would call the main bar area. It was quite busy when we visited at around 6.0 PM on a Wednesday evening, with the only place where we could find a seat accommodating five was the add-on room at the back. It's good to see an excellent pub like this doing the sort of trade that it deserves. I'm afraid I failed to note all the beers on, but there were several real ales available. I do recall that the Sambrook's pairing of Junction and Powerhouse Porter were both available. This is a cracking pub that actually feels like a real pub. This is another Walthamstow pub worth including on any crawl of the area.