Galyons, E16

Situated about a hundred yards south-east of Gallions Reach DLR and overlooking the Royal Albert basin, is the former grade II-listed Gallions Hotel as was, dating from 1883 to the Richard Norman Shaw-inspired designs of Vigers & Wagstaffe, built for a demographic unknown in an area now dominated by faceless housing developments, punctuated by the roar of aircraft taking off from City Airport. This is really quite a commanding structure, with pargetting featuring cherubim/seraphim or perhaps just allegorical figures to part of the façade at first floor level; it’s amazing to think that the place was left boarded up to decay from 1972 until just 2013 (see CAMRA). Sadly, there’s nothing I could see of heritage remaining to the interior, which is just a completely corporate dirge, no doubt designed to appeal to the sales reps holed up in all the Double Tree – or similar – surrounding hotels. There’s bare brick or slate grey paint to walls, recessed downlighting, a tiled bar apron with laminate or carpeted floor, modern furniture, tables topped with wax encrusted bottles (see photo). Customers were a general mix, few in number at the time of my Thursday visit at just gone 7.30pm. There’s no cask and then just a basic fizzocracy comprising the likes of Madri, the least worst offering in the form of Salt Alpaca Lypse, £3.50 a half, served by a barman – and probably student of the nearby UEL – who could barely speak English. There’s nothing here to warrant a visit, which probably applies to E16 as a whole; to paraphrase Rex: the grade reflects the architecture, not the experience.

Official site of Galyons Bar & Kitchen - galyons-royal-docks.square.site

Official site of Galyons Bar & Kitchen - galyons-royal-docks.square.site

Visited 01/12/25. Visited previously on 26/03/24 No cask. Keg offering of Galyons lager, Madri, Staro, Guinness, Aspall, Alpacalypse, Caffreys, Blue Moon, Felt Peach lager from Salt. Bit of a confusing one if like me you get dropped off the opposite side from the actual entrance as you see the sign and then think you head down the flight of stairs to the amphitheatre like exterior only to find it is the entrance for the gym! Walk round the other side road level instead to find a seating area out the front and then inside it is a bare boarded, long L shaped venue with the bar counter having its own red and white ceramic tiled skirt that follows the shape of the interior. The area opposite the entrance has some regular tables and chairs and a banquette under the far window plus some tall stools at the shorter side of the bar counter. There is a small room with a few tables supported by a church pew to the immediate left of the entrance. Some tall tables and chairs inside the front to the right of the entrance opposite the main side of the bar counter. There is an entrance over on the right-hand edge of this area into another seating area that felt more lounge than bar. Lighting was low, screens switched off and a Motown soundtrack being played.