The Hope, EC1

Very impressive frontage.3 handpumps with beers from Youngs and Cottage. Some original mirrors and tiling.

Two ales on during my visit yesterday afternoon – Bombardier, and Young’s Bitter, the latter at a fairly hefty £3.50 a pint. There’s not much left of the original Victorian interior, except a bit of tiling and mirrorwork, plus the frontage as described by John below. The main reason for coming in here is for the hot meat sandwiches. The menu isn’t extensive, just beef or pork on white or brown bread. The last time I was in here if you really wanted to push the boat cuisine wise, you could have a sausage on the side, but I didn’t see any yesterday. The hot pork sandwiches were £3.90 a throw, and the hot beef £4.00. And that included mustard, horseradish and apple sauce as appropriate, with the pork sandwiches also having a pork crackling garnish. Now that’s class. The Sirloin restaurant is upstairs, and features the full English breakfast as its signature dish. As I recall it’s around £9, and as I’ve eaten there on several occasions I can confirm that it really is a very full English breakfast. This is a very ordinary sort of pub with nothing really special about it, but it’ll do for a decent (if a little expensive) pint, and an excellent sandwich at a good price.

This pub is actually called "The Hope" with "The Sirloin" being a separate restaurant upstairs. A very attractive exterior with a fine curved glass frontage leads to a traditional wood panelled interior with some fine tiling, a mosaic flooring and a burgundy painted ceiling. Note in particular the fine etched glass in the doors - "Public Bar" - and "Saloon Bar" - telling us that this was formerly a two roomed pub. Seating consists of wooden benches and tables. On my evening visit, despite ( or perhaps because of ?) screening the England v Hungary game at Wembley high up in one corner of the pub, the pub was virtually deserted with the only two other customers occupying stools on the pavement outside. The Young's "smile" logo is displayed outside on the frontage, but I don't think this has ever been a Young's house. On my visit, a reasonable pint of Young's Ordinary - £ 3.30p - was enjoyed. Shepherd Neame Master Brew was also on. The two foreign bar staff seemed rather bored and disinterested and there was no sign of anyone who seemed to be in charge or running things. I don't think this pub is too bad, but it's not down for an early revisit.

The Hope is a traditional Smithfields pub with close ties to the meat market. It usually opens at 6AM for the market trade and therefore tends to be shut by 9.00PM of an evening. Above the ground floor pub is a restaurant called the Sirloin which specialises in serving whatever was purchased at the market that morning. It has kept some period features and actually looks quite good from the outside with an impressive glass facade. But unfortunately the one small square inside room is quite bland and boring with plain benches and tables around the outside walls. It’s a Youngs pub with three hand pumps, one of which is usually a guess. Unfortunately this was off on my visit so it was Youngs bitter. The outside seating is a decent enough spot for an outside pint whist watching the crowd passing through the St Johns Street junction, but unless you are a market worker, personally I would give this one a miss.