The Water Poet, Shoreditch, E1

I’ve been in here a few times and it’s an attractive pub with somewhat quirky décor in an old cobbled street just off Bishopsgate. It does seem to have become the ‘in’ place to be seen and consequently it can get very packed. The layout isn’t that conducive to vertical drinking and much of the space is taken up with those infuriating sofas that would be more suited to an Ikea showroom than a busy city pub. There’s a side room with a pool table and a restaurant area at the back plus an outside patio that I imagine will be popular in Summer. Usual beers are Pride and ESB but on my last visit neither were on which is rather unforgivable on a Friday lunchtime. Worth a visit during the quieter days of the week but steer well clear on a Thursday or Friday.

Official site of the Water Poet, contains menus and drinks list - www.waterpoet.co.uk

Made a first visit on Sunday afternoon when we'd finally had enough of calculating how much people in the Truman brewery markets were asking for all the old 60's and 70's tat that I had long taken down the local dump a long time ago. Interesting place, and certainly wasn't what I was expecting a stones throw from the glass towers of the Broadgate development. Multi roomed with the front bar area decorated in the style of a baroque bordello with interesting oil painting dominating the back section. And then two more large rooms beyond , one being a billiards room with pool tables and the other being a decent sized traditional styled dining area with an interesting mixture of furniture and decorations. And then finally a really impressive outside courtyard area sporting several large jumbreallas which provides a great space for an outside pint overlooked by the glass towers. Very, very busy on this Sunday afternoon and although we didn't try it, several people were queuing for a table in the dining area so guess the food must be pretty good. The beers are Fullers and London Pride and ESB were on. Not the best pint of Pride I've ever had but more than drinkable. Interesting crowd of Shoreditchites on this Sunday afternoon and would be interesting to see how it mixes with the City workers during the week. Initial reaction was perhaps a bit too Bohemian for an old traditionalist like myself, but was certainly warming to it by the end.

Official site of the Water Poet, contains menus and drinks list - www.waterpoet.co.uk