The Dickens Inn, E1

Pleasant country pub with decent choice of ales (albeit Shepherd Neame) and good food

This is a large pub and restaurant occupying what looks to be an old warehouse in St Katharine Dock. The ales on were Old Speckled Hen, Adnam’s Bitter, and London Pride. The latter was £3.20 a pint, which is the sort of price you expect to pay in an area like this. This bar & restaurant looks good from the outside with plenty of foliage on all levels contrasting nicely with all the exposed beams. According to the board outside, the ground floor is a tavern; the first floor is the pizza restaurant; and the second floor is the grill. I only bothered with the ground floor – “tavern” is stretching it a bit; it might be one in America, but here it is a very large drinking barn. There was the usual sort of piped music, some TV monitors that were muted during my lunchtime visit, a games machine, and although I didn’t spot a one armed bandit I have little doubt that there was one lurking somewhere, plus terraces on each level for al fresco drinking and dining. The large amount of genuinely very old wood gives it a fair amount of character. Its floor is bare boarded of course, with some sofas, high tables and stools, settles, normal tables and chairs, and plenty of heavy duty wooden tables. Being located where it is, it is inevitably something of a tourist trap – but it is a fairly good one, with an excellent spot right by the water in the dock. It’s not the sort of place where I would make a special effort to visit, but if you find yourself in St Katharine Dock, as many people do, it does provide somewhere where you can get a reasonably decent pint to drink.