The Spanish Galleon, Greenwich, SE10

The Spanish Galleon is a Shepherd Neame establishment that has left and right hand side bars that are split by a central ‘fish and ship shop’ counter. There is a plasma screen in each bar that was airing the hairy Bikers cooking program, which was muted. The right hand bar had some very low background music playing during my visit on Wednesday afternoon last week. The left hand bar is much the same as the right, but there is another seating area at the rear which has a glass panelled ceiling. The bar is stocked with standard and premium draught products that extend past the usual Shepherd Neame selection. The banks of three hand pumps found in each bar were drawing Spitfire, Whitstable Bay’s Pale Ale and Samuel Adam’s Blonde Ambition. Traditional pub grub is available alongside the fish and chips with the mains starting at around £8. There is an advertised function room with separate bar. I found the service in here to be polite and the Whitstable was decent enough. I would have no problem returning if passing.

Attractive-looking Shepherd Neame pub in a prominent street-corner position. Irregular layout with multiple seating and dining areas, but quite difficult to find a seat on a Sunday afternoon. Traditional furniture and decor. Several sports TVs in the main bar areas. Two banks of three handpumps, both offering Spitfire, Whitstable Bay and Bishops Finger (£3.85).

The Spanish Galleon is a Shep Neames outlet sitting on the corner of College Approach, a short distance from the Cutty Sark DLR station. It takes its name from the Santa Maria, which was captured by the British, along with its captain Don Emanuele, whose portrait is the centre piece of the right hand bar. Extensively a two roomed pub, it has the strange feature of having an in house fish and chip takeaway as you enter through the front door before deciding to go into either the left of right hand bars. Didn’t seem to make much difference which bar you chose as they were very similar in wood floor, wall and table and chair decor. And both have the same beer dispensers which include three handpumps in each section. Unfortunately these were dispensing the same three Shep Neme ales of Spitfire, Bishops Finger and Masterbrew., so a bit of a disappointment on the choice front there. I got the impression that this place was more geared up to providing a food service than being a tradition pub experience, which is perfectly fine and is what we utilised it for. But the food, although being perfectly edible, was decidedly average, and along with the ale ,which was also perfectly drinkable but also average in quality along with the choice, I was overall disappointed. In that I had set my expectations much higher for a flag ship Sheps outlet in this part of town, when I had walked past it earlier in the day and mentally positioned it for a return visit.