Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Ship, Monument, EC3
EC3
EC3V 0BP
Pub Type
Nicholsons (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Ship
This little place pre-dates the Great Fire of 1666, though I suspect the current incarnation is probably Victorian.
A Nicholson’s pub, the interior is well described below: a boarded floor with attractive bar array, featuring angled bevelled mirrors. The pot shelf also has attractive glazing and some snob screens with etched glass. Otherwise, the interior features much brown lacquered wood, with a chocolate brown gloss Anaglypta ceiling. It’s small inside (the upstairs dining room is tiny), with tall stools to the bar and peripheral drinking ledge. Lighting comes from Victorian-style fittings, décor amounted to a few framed prints, TVs were on with the subtitles and banal music played. Customers were typical City types, but well-behaved compared to some.
The ale range was attractive by City standards, with Pride and Doom (less attractively so), then Wainwright Golden, Hophead, Proper Job, Velo Citrus Pale Ale, Magic Rock Hat-Trick and Tribute at £2.65 and nice.
This is a decent little boozer, but I can imagine it getting very crowded in here towards the end of the week.
On 6th May 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Ship
Hidden away down a little courtyard and loomed over by the Walkie Talkie.
A pub has stood here since before the fire of london and its still holding on.
Good Beer Guide 2020 Entry.
A Nicholsons in the traditional style - plenty of wood, hint of a Gin Palace, snob screens on the bar. Narrow, with high stool furniture in the main, and wooden seating elsewhere. Upstairs restaurant not investigated but the wall signs suggested they were proud of their pies.
Several cask handpulls and the London Pride was in exceptional condition.
On 4th November 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Ship
The Nicholson’s run Ship is a small backstreet boozer with traditional décor, and I imagine plenty of history. There is a range of premium keg products and I counted nine hand pumps, all with different ales. A pie menu is available for the hungry, I didn’t see any other food advertised. During a recent visit early on a Wednesday evening it was busy, but I managed to plot on the end of a beer shelf at the rear of the pub. There was some background music playing and the televisions at either end of the pub were showing muted news. Upstairs is a tiny gent’s toilet.
On 27th September 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Ship
Well described in previous review. Only thing to add is the 1st floor dining room is quite small - only 4 or so tables - and has its own bar although draught beers seem to be sent up from downstairs. Sampled beer was Reunion Opening Gambit, and in good form.
On 29th January 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Ship
One of a number of pubs tucked away down little alleyways in this part of the city, the Ship is a deceptively small Nicholsons pub. The pub is nestled in the crook of the alleyway as it turns ninety degrees midway along, thereby giving it a curved frontage and a wide but very shallow arc-shaped interior. The room is bare boarded and has a servery which follows the shape of the room along the back wall. The bar has a dark wood counter and matching canopy with etched glass end panes plus an arched bar back with a smart Nicholsons mirror and a nice decorative relief carved frieze around the top. High stools serve the sills under the modern Nicholsons branded front windows and there are a few high tables and stools at the extremities. The walls have been painted in dark shades which compliments the dark wood fittings throughout but can make for quite a gloomy interior when there's not much natural light reaching the alleyway. A shelving unit to the right was labelled the 'Beer Library', and seemed to have some old Good Beer Guides and other beer related books plus a few tankards but the shelves are far too high to reach, so I'm not sure what the point is. There is a staircase to the far right end of the room with some nice etched glass images of a ship in the adjacent doorway and windows. The stairs lead up to a first floor dining room - a Nicholsons staple feature but one that I didn't explore. Walls throughout the pub are decorated with old photographs and snippets of local interest information such as the fact that the original pub that stood on this site was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and that the current pub was named for the dockers who used to drink here. TV screens at each end of the room were showing a muted news channel and there was a quiet soundtrack playing under the hum of conversation. With this being Central London, more customers were drinking in the alleyway than in the pub itself.
The beer range was a little pedestrian, comprising Nicholsons Pale Ale, Fullers London Pride, Sharps Doom Bar, Timothy Taylor Dark Mild, Cotleigh Osprey and Robinsons Trooper. Two more beers were clipped but on enquiry turned out to be 'coming soon' - Sharps Atlantic and Adnams Fat Sprat. The Trooper was a tad pricey at £4.60 a pint but was in decent enough shape and went down well after a brisk walk across London Bridge in the sun to get here.
This sort of pub will be familiar to anyone who has visited any of Nicholsons' more modest London pubs, offering a pleasant enough interior with minimal seating, plenty of room for vertical drinking and a half decent range of reasonably well kept ales. It's all a bit average, but still represents a much better prospect than the majority of the city's pubs and bars. There are pubs with grander interiors and wider beer ranges within easy reach of this place, but it's a good option to have if you want a change from the usual suspects.
On 17th June 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Ship
I had a pint of Tickety Brew Session IPA - a tad expensive at £4.60 for a 3.5% ABV beer. It was a bit tired and lifeless, but drinkable nonetheless. This is a Nicholson's house, so there were several other ales on. Sarnies start at £6.75 for the fish finger, up to £9.95 for the steak and rarebit. The Classic Burger, with Cheddar cheese sauce and chips is £10.25. There is what must be a more formal restaurant upstairs as table service is advertised, but I didn't explore it.
On the heritage front, the bar counter looks original, but I suspect that the snob screens on the left are modern additions as they look too small to serve the function of originals. There's a vestibule on the right which is possibly an old piece, but the glazing in it is fairly modern even if the ship motifs depicted in it are quite attractive. The bar back, plus the wooden frieze at cornice level surmounting paneled mirrors also looks original. It's heartening that at least a few original features have survived in here.
Although the pub is tucked away down an alleyway just off the main streets, it's clearly a favoured drinking hole for well-heeled City types. And who can blame them as it is one of the better pubs in the area? It has a fairly long frontage (for an alleyway pub) but has no real depth so is smaller than it appears from the outside. The only furnishings in the main bar area are tall stools at tall tables and ledges alongside the windows. It was very busy by 12.30 on Wednesday lunchtime - as you would expect. As far as the clientele are concerned it's a typical City pub; but it is one of the better ones.
On 17th December 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Ship
Nicholson's pub that is tucked away on an alleyway. Quite a small and plain interior by Nicholson's standards didn't visit upstairs.
On 24th November 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roy Collins left this review about The Ship
Tiny old fashioned pub hidden away up an alley. Good range of beers on offer.
On 22nd April 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 124 recommendations about 121 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Ship
One of the better Nicholsons, and less crowded than it used to be before the smoking ban as about half of the clientele seems to standing out in the alleyway having a cigarette. Even if busy in the 'J'-shaped downstairs bar, the upper room usually has plenty of space and some good window tables. Two banks of four handpumps in the main bar, with regulars such as Landlord, Pride, Youngs 'Ordinary' and Tribute plus a fair selection from the company's seasonal list. Also several more handpumps in the upstairs bar, usually duplicating some of those below. NB - Called the Talbot originally, and perhaps it would have been best to have kept that name as there are other Ships nearby.
On 2nd February 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
BobOs . left this review about The Ship
Second pub on our afternoon crawl and spent quite a while walking around in circles and asking people for directions before finding it tucked down a little side street - but well worth the wait. Good range of ales - the Pride was spot-on. Service was warm and friendly with a chatty barmaid - probably something to do with visiting before the lunchtime rush of suits. Now I know how to find it I'll certainly visit again.
On 5th October 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 370 recommendations about 355 pubs]