Duke of Somerset, Aldgate, E1

Despite the traditional name, this place doesn’t seem to have any antecedent, but dates back to at least 1983, built into the base of an ugly office block on the edge of the City. The interior is spacious with multiple wall formats: bare brick, planks, dark grey paint, pale grey paint or shiny white tiles to an open kitchen. The floor is either boarded or laid with patterned tiles; furniture is mixed and zoned with menus on the tables advertising a hotchpotch of food styles, lighting is modern and there are seven TVs showing the football with very loud commentary (no-one watching), with further TVs to the outside patio seating. Lighting is modern and décor features prints to the wall, seemingly mocking the aristocracy in ironic ways. The deafening sound of voices was generated by customers who were many and seemed to be students, unsurprising given the proximity to London Met and the Guildhall; certainly, it felt like drinking in a student union bar. There are also many modern student residential blocks in the vicinity and indeed, the pub’s homepage makes a special point of advertising prizes of tickets to the Isle of Wight Festival 2022; there are Games’ Nights too. Surprisingly there was some real ale, in the form of Doom and Landlord (£2.45 a half), served by the most clueless barman I’ve ever encountered; he started to pour me a pint of Amstel and when I pointed out his error, he rang up a price of £4.90 which seemed ridiculous, until I saw him pulling a pint. I repeated my request, making the ‘pinch’ symbol with my fingers to emphasise my point. When it finally arrived, it was musty and barely drinkable. I’ve been in worse, but this is a rather dreadful place, but then I’m no longer a student so I’ll leave them to it.

Elongated rectangular bar with a slightly raised seating area at one end. Semi-modern furniture and decor. Lots of sports TVs, including outside in the front patio beer garden. Standard Stonegate (Great Traditional Pubs) menu. Electronic dart board in use. Music a bit louder than one might expect early on a Friday evening. Three real ales on handpump: Greene King IPA, Youngs Ordinary and Pride (£3.80).

The Duke of Somerset was fairly empty during my late afternoon visit a couple of days before Christmas. The décor and setup of the furniture suggested that I had just missed a large Christmas office party and the state of a few punters suggested that their office was not open on Christmas Eve. There was some background music playing at an inaudible volume and the two plasma screens were showing muted greyhound racing via Sky Sports. The bar is stocked with standard draught products alongside Peroni and Amstel. There are also three hand pumps that were drawing Greene King’s IPA and Rocking Rudolph alongside St Austell’s Tribute. Food is available throughout the day and the mains are priced around £8. There are also food and drink deals throughout the week. There is a late license until midnight on Fridays when there is a resident DJ and this pub is closed at the weekend, although private hire is available. Outside the front of the pub is a large patio area that would be a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of London on a hot summer’s day. There are much better options in this area so I do not plan to return anytime soon.

Official site of Duke of Somerset - www.dukeofsomersetlondon.co.uk

Official site of Duke of Somerset - www.dukeofsomersetlondon.co.uk

Was on my way from the Dispensary to the Hoop and Grapes and stumbled across this place. As Roger mentions below it is built into the bottom of a drab modern office block, so I wasn’t going to bother at first , but there was a fairly sizeable crowd drinking on the patio outside and I thought, don’t judge a book by its cover. Oh yes you can with this one. Firstly it took an age to battle through the throng of office workers who had taken up residency on the outside patio and seemed to be of the mentality that they had staked a claim to their bit of outside concrete and were not going to budge for anyone trying to get in the place. But once inside the pub was empty and dark and you had the full multi screened, pool table, food chain pub appeal interior to yourself. The beer offerings were the same Pride and IPA as mentioned by Roger, and as you can get these in a lot of better places I turned tail and headed back out through the door and through the throng. I can only assume that the patio crowd had come from the office building above and use this place as a social club and canteen and can’t be arsed to go anywhere else. I can.

Fairly large, faceless, ground floor pub set into a drab modern building. It has all the hallmarks of a featureless plastic Wetherspoons without the benefits of a decent beer selection or the cheap prices. The large multi screened single room has a twin pool table area at one end and a small raised area at the other than can be closed off for private functions. In between there are several tables but not much chance of getting one when busy. The beers are standard fare (Pride / IPA) and the staff totally inept. Every pint we witnessed being pulled was a short measure and when my wife couldn't see what beers were on, she asked what Real Ales were available only to discover they did not know what a Real Ale was. Awful music, dreadfully packed with large office groups blocking the entrances and totally lacking in character. The outside patio is probably the only redeeming feature but unless the weather is right and the hordes are elsewhere, it is probably best avoiding the pub altogether unless you like this sort of thing.