The Leyton Engineer, Leyton, E10

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.