The Leyton Engineer, Leyton, E10

Camra OCR pubs website - ocrpubs.camra.org.uk

Camra OCR pubs website - ocrpubs.camra.org.uk

Official site of The Leyton Engineer - theleytonengineer.co.uk

Official site of The Leyton Engineer - theleytonengineer.co.uk

There were only two ales on in here during my Saturday afternoon visit - Adnam's Southwold Bitter, and the house beer Volden Session ale (£3.30 a pint). I didn't think that this was particularly good as there were eight handpumps, with four of them having reversed clips, and another two being unclipped. But my Volden session was in good nick, and £3.30 is a very reasonable price to pay in London these days. The menu had a surprising and welcome range of pub grub, with the beefburger etc at £10, haddock & chips at £11, and the Cumberland sausage, mash, greens and gravy (obviously) the cheapest option at £7. This is probably the most magnificent Antic pub I've been in with its marvelous red brick and plaster "streaky bacon" exterior, and inside the most striking feature, for me anyway, is the decorative terrazzo floor in the main bar area. There are several smaller rooms leading off from the main area as you enter, including one having all tables laid for diners. You have the usual mix of Antic furnishings in here - some tall tables/tall stools in front of the bar counter, plus enough sofas and armchairs, and some old normal tables and chairs of course. Decor is a bit of a mixed bag. On one wall is a quartet of ornate clocks, some gilded mirrors are to be seen, but the predominant feature seemed to be stuffed animal heads and antlers. There were also some presentation plaques on one wall, and on another I even saw a bear's hide and a pair of mounted Gurha kukri. Not really what I want to look at in a pub, but I guess it all came as a cheap job lot. Overall I quite liked it in here, but there again I quite like quirky pubs, in which Antic specialise of course. But only two real ales on out of a total of eight handpumps isn't good by Antic standards; maybe I was just unlucky as previous reviewers have seen more.

An Antic pub in part of the impressive-looking town hall. Multi-roomed and a bit gloomy inside with high ceilings, blue walls with mounted taxidermy, shields and a variety of clocks for décor. More ornate is the very attractive polish concrete floor in a variety of colours and also some nice ceiling plasterwork. Usual Antic hipster furniture stylings. Drop down screen for sports, showing the World Athletics Championships on my visit. Three ciders and five ales on the go (mainly London micros), my Volden Vim was in good shape. Getting served can sometimes be an issue due to the unfortunately placed pillar which splits the bar in half. Food available and my companion was very complimentary about the burger he was served-up. A decent venue pre-matchday, with supporters of both teams mingling happily enough. Worth a stop as a venue in its own right, being less than five minutes stroll from Leyton tube station.

Originally conceived as a pop-up pub in part of the attractive Leyton Town Hall building, Antic eventually opened this pub on a permanent basis in the Summer of 2013, providing a good ale and food venue within easy walking distance of both the tube station and football ground. The entrance lobby leads you into the main bar which boasts and amazing restored patterned mosaic floor - arguably the pub's most impressive feature. A deep servery runs along the back wall, split in two by a slightly cumbersome pillar and the rest of the room is filled with the usual mismatched jumble of recycled tables and chairs, including a surprisingly high ratio of sofas and armchairs. The high ceiling has a particularly grand chandelier hanging from a decorative central rose and the walls have been painted in warm shades and decorated with various animal heads and hides, clocks, antlers, mirrors and old paintings, with a nice fireplace towards the front. Rather strangely, a staircase to the left of the room, with a nicely worked bannister rail, leads up to a sealed doorway, which all looks a bit strange. Leaving the main bar to the left, you pass an open kitchen with a designated dining room opposite, filled with somewhat more formal seating options in a roughly square shaped room and decorated with old pictures and some smaller chandeliers. There is another room to the right of the entrance lobby, smaller than the others and offering additional seating space, whilst the Orient function room can be hired for private events. As with most Antic pubs, the prospect of a decent ale selection is pretty much guaranteed, with the options on this visit comprising Adnams Lighthouse, Bath Gem, Sharps Doom Bar, Southwark Gold, Black Sheep Bitter and King Black Symphony. My pint of the Gold was served up by a very polite barman who apologised for the short wait I incurred at the bar, and was in very good condition. In many ways this is the archetypal Antic pub, taking an interesting venue, partially restoring some of its finer features, filling it with ill-fitting furniture and eclectic items of décor and stocking a decent range of beers. It didn't quite wow me as much as I'd expected it to, but it remains a good venue and worth jumping off the tube for a quick look.

Not been open that long, but already a popular place (where have all the crowds come from?). Plenty of room inside, but the ambient noise from the crowds isn't so great. On the bar, I noted that most, if not all, the ale was from London breweries - that's good. Quality could have been better, though - that's not so good. Still worth a visit if you're in the area; the High Road, and beyond into Walthamstow, makes for a good leisurely pub crawl on the 97 bus.