Seething Lane Tap, Tower Hill, EC3

This is another brash Draft House pub. When we approached it there were dozens of people outside drinking in the street, but inside less than half of the tables were occupied. But it was still very noisy inside due to the overly loud music being played. To say that it's garish is an understatement. There's metal ducting covering the ceiling, which is probably no bad thing as it hides the cement ceiling to some extent, most of the hard little chairs are painted emerald green, there's an inexplicable neon sign saying "YOLK SMOKE POKE"at the back, as well as a large sign on the right saying THIRD, under which are signs stating brewing terms such as Wort, and a hanging board saying that "Tank opened 2 days ago - delivered from Czec Republic". It's all quite bizarre actually - I couldn't much sense of it. There was an open to view kitchen at the back, but I didn't get to see what sort of food they were doing. On the plus side the ales on were Sambrook's Wandle, Siren Under Current, Windsor & Eton 90 Glorious Years, and Red Willow Seamless. The latter ale was £3.85 a pint, or a very reasonable £3.35 when the 50p a pint CAMRA discount is applied. Another plus was the big pile of London Drinkers at the end of the bar. I really liked the beer in here, although I didn't like the pub - or bar - one bit. I don't expect to return, but I guess I could be persuaded by the prospect of some decent ale.

Horrible looking single storey building from outside, inside its a stripped back basic modern hipster bar, all the services on show. Lots of neon signs but with subdiued lighting, there is an open kitchen and the bar is in the corner. Not in any way traditional, but has a friendly but lively vibe, despite the many sited gentlemen. 6 real reals, the quality was excellent.

Part of the small Draft House chain, this is a large, single square roomed bar close to Tower Hill and popular with office workers from the local area. The room is bare boarded throughout with large windows bearing neon signs and pub branding along two sides. The servery runs along most of the back wall and has a chunky counter and a white tiled bar back with a Seething Lane road sign above and a canopy filled with a bottled beer display. Standard, bench and low stool seating fights for space throughout most of the crowded room, with low partitioning screens creating a bit of privacy for those seated whilst maintaining clean sight lines for staff and vertical drinkers. There is an open kitchen to the left, with food flying out at a rapid rate on my early evening visit. I didn’t see a menu, but a sign behind the bar rather off-puttingly suggested we might ‘Eat my meat’ and ‘Gobble my nuts’. Over on the other side of the room was the unusual sight of four large Pilsner Urquell tanks above one of the entrances. A sign noted that the beer in these tanks was delivered unpasteurised from the Czech Republic the previous day and it seemed as if the beer was already available at the bar. Elsewhere I spotted some more beer bottle displays behind a wire mesh on some shelves to the front of the pub and a series of heavy duty lamps suspended from an undressed ceiling. Loud music played throughout this early Friday evening visit and even more noise was generated by the crowd, with sound echoing through the room. I’ve generally given the Draft House chain a bit of a wide berth due to it’s reputation for being so expensive, but I was shocked and surprised to find that I could order a pint of ale (Adnams Old Ale, to be precise) for just £2.75 – a remarkably good price for the City of London. This was admittedly on offer as ‘Cask of the Day’, but even so, I was most impressed – even more so when it turned out to be an excellent pint. Other cask options included Sambrooks Wandle, Magic Rock High Wire and Celt Experience Chieftain and Rasin de Belgica. A final handpull offered a real cider whilst the keg taps had a good mix of UK and US craft beers. I’m not really sure this is my kind of place, but I can imagine it would be a decent enough venue for Friday night drinks if you worked in the area. I found it a bit dull, but this was tempered by a great pint at a very good price and I may well now consider popping my head in the next time I’m passing.

Square building, oddly single-storey given that it is in the City where plot space has been at a premium for centuries. Bar / diner with industrial decor and fairly basic, semi-modern furniture. Loud music. Four of six handpumps operational when I visited, with real ales including Alechemy Starlaw pale ale (£3.75). Also features four large Pilsner Urquell copper tanks.

Very industrial styled bar with exposed concrete and ducting.Very cheap uncomfortable chairs and tables.Bright pub with good neon signs give it a lift.Open kitchen to the rear.5 handpumps with 3 beers on and 2 coming soon. They have a reduced price beer of the day.Kings-Northern Lights only £2.75 a pint was a good choice.Expensive keg beers but good choice.