The Camel, E2

There were three ales on when I visited at Saturday lunchtime – Sambrook’s Wandle (£3.45 a pint), Adnam’s Flame Runner, Crouch Vale Brewer’s Gold, and Hackney Brewery American Pale Ale. There was also a cider on tap, but I didn’t see which one it was. Food is a big deal here, with some specialist pies (Thai green curry, steak and chorizo) as well as the standards of steak and kidney and steak and ale. I think they were around £10 a throw. The pub doesn’t open until 4.0 PM during the week, and although they open at midday on Saturday, they don’t serve food until 1.00 PM. There is a beautiful brown tiled exterior to this Victorian pub, and a few benches outside along the side alley. Inside it’s a fairly small one-room pub. It’s mainly furnished with those hard and uncomfortable re-cycled school chairs, solid wood tables, and more uncomfortable solid wood in the handful of tall tables and tall stools near the front of the pub. Walls are covered with extravagant black and red floral wallpaper, and there’s a large mirror at the back with a photograph of Winston Churchill in the centre brandishing a sten gun. Not the typical image of our gold standard Prime Minister, although the trademark cigar was also present. Other features are the model of the eponymous camel, complete with urn on its back, on the bar counter, a few black and white photographs on some of the walls, and (I assume it’s decor and not waiting for the DJ to turn up), a 78 record sleeve of Mrs Mills’classic album “Let’s Have Another Party”. An attractive “Camel” mirror sits on a ledge by the window. This should be a really good little pub, and no doubt is on some levels. But the absence of any comfortable furnishings, and playing reggae music (as they were) are negative points in my book, but of course that’s just my subjective opinion. On the plus side it does do some decent real ale, and doesn’t have any fruit machines or their ilk to disrupt the serious business of ale consumption. Having said all that, it still retains a “pubby” atmosphere, and I’d be happy to give it another go.

This is a simple street corner pub a short walk from Bethnal Green tube station. The single room is quite narrow with a wooden floor and half panelled walls, above which is black wallpaper with large red roses printed on it. Whilst this may sound pretty awful, the overall effect is pleasant enough. The right hand wall is covered by large mirrors which try to create the illusion of more space although this only really works if you're stood at that end of the room. Walls are otherwise decorated with some old pictures of the pub, most of which are group photos, perhaps of old regulars. Nowadays there are some benches where these people had been posing and on the hot day of my visit, they were all fully taken up. At the left hand end of the bar there is a table with books and board games and the day's papers were available from the bar counter itself. Four handpulls offered Sambrook's Wandle and Junction, Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold (£3.60) and Adnams Ghost Ship. Cider was also available in the shape of Sandford Orchard Devon Scrumpy and Fanny's Bramble Cider with Blackberries. The tap selection was also pretty interesting, with mainstream lagers replaced by the likes of Freedom Four and Organic, Sam Smith's Wheat Beer, Frulli and Bitburger. I tried the Brewer's Gold which was in decent enough shape, even if the barman didn't seem to know how to operate the beer engine. Not a traditional pub by any stretch of the imagination, but a friendly and cosy enough place to enjoy something from the tidy array of drinks on offer.

Randomness Guide to London - Camel entry

Randomness Guide to London - Camel entry