The Railway Tavern, Liverpool Street, EC2

The biggest inducement to drinking in this pub has to be its location directly outside Liverpool Street station. A two bar pub, the main room has wooden flooring for the most part, with a few tiles around the bar area. For some strange reason, most of the seating is in the shape of high tables and stools which doesn’t make for the most relaxing time. Big windows can be opened out to the pavement outside, but roadworks meant that this wasn’t really possible, with a few smokers crammed into the small passage of pavement still accessible. The room is fairly devoid of character, with a few crests hanging above the servery being the main attraction, although a couple of TV screens showing cricket captured a fair few people’s attention, as did the loud music blaring on a Wednesday evening. A passageway leads out to the smaller City Bar, also with bare floorboards and high tables. This room struck me as a bit tatty and uncared for, and the ale-free bar was a pain, as I ended up with a Guinness after the barmaid failed to point out that ale is available in the other bar. A small upstairs area is available with some comfy looking seating and is probably best utilised by diners wanting to try the decent looking menu. Hand pumps eventually located, I suddenly wasn’t too upset with my Guinness, as an entirely underwhelming selection of Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale and Morland Old Speckled Hen was awaiting me. I can’t really find much to get excited about with this pub. It’s not the worse place you could find yourself in should you be passing through the station. I suspect you could turn up again a few years later and find things exactly as you left them. An unadventurous, generic pub experience.

Thoroughly awful youth club where students shout at Sky Sports At first sight they seemed to have four ales on. Two went off as soon as I asked. 4/10 is generous.

It's a so so pub whose main redeeming feature is its close proximity to Liverpool St. Station. Three distinct bar areas and plenty of plasma screens in both upstairs and downstairs bars and when it gets warm the large glass windows of the downstairs bars get fully opened, so the pub is fairly airy at ground level even when packed. Downside is standard GK Ales on offer and I didn'y see any guests on my visit. So in conclusion an OK pub for a pint close to Liverpool St. Station if you can't be bothered to walk a little bit further to find something better.