Well & Boot, Waterloo, SE1

Official site of Well & Boot - wellandboot.co.uk

Official site of Well & Boot - wellandboot.co.uk

This is not the sort of place that I would usually frequent, but it has to be said that it is handily placed if you've agreed to meet someone by Platform 1 and need to be somewhere where you can be sure of getting a signal on you're 'phone. It's essentially a central island servery with a few seats wrapped around it, many of which look down on the concourse. There's just the one beer on tap - Birra Moretti, at a whopping £2.95 a half. I can't believe there is anywhere here to prepare food, but I did see a couple of blokes eating a snack of some kind that they'd picked up from Marks & Spencer. I don't imagine anyone comes here for the pleasure of a drink in the ambience of Waterloo Station - but its location can be very handy.

A bright mezzanine bar with a modern feel, overlooking the station concourse but tucked away at the end where it is actually relatively quiet. No real ale, and in fact the only draft beer choice was over-priced Perroni, while a few European lagers shared the beer menu with Harviestoun Ola Dubh and Meantime beers in bottles The wine selection was uninspired but the staff were friendly enough and there is free WiFi available. On this occasion I plumped for a coffee. A comfortable place to wait for a train, but there are much better places nearby.

Strange place, with a very open feel despite being on the balcony underneath Waterloo station's vast roof canopy. Very much a modern wine / cocktail bar, with the only tap beer being Peroni. Fortunately, there are bottles of Hooky Gold in the fridge, albeit priced at a whopping £5.00 a go. Given its view over the concourse, it's OK for a bit of people watching whilst waiting for a train I suppose, but that's about it...