Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Poll for date of Halifax crawl. with ROBCamra
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Royal Sovereign, E5
E5
E5 8RL
Pub Type
Punch TavernsReviews (Current Rating Average: 4½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Royal Sovereign
A late Georgian ex-Charrington’s pub, situated on the Clapton/Stoke Newington borders, the exterior has been given a somewhat hipster colour scheme but it’s anything but inside. The previous reviewer alerts us to the origin of the pub’s name; an interesting piece of trivia, but I can enlarge on that in that the Admiral’s descendant is actor Charles Collingwood, AKA Brian Aldridge in Radio 4’s The Archers.
The interior has a stepped rear with an open kitchen with a menu displayed on a blackboard above the entrance. Neither the interior (nor name) on the website match this venue, which seems to relate to a different pub. The left wall is bare brick. The floor’s boarded with walls and ceiling painted pale grey. There’s little sign of the pub’s historic origins other than a little etched glass to the entrance. Furniture is mixed and comprises some blue velour upholstered booths. The interior is broadly staple-shaped with a fairly large field panelled bar. Décor is mismatched, comprising hanging Tiffany lamps, old brewers’ mirrors, paintings by, I assume, a local artist and what appears to be a lighting array possibly aimed at illuminating a band. A trip to the lavs was a bit Seven – infested with flies. A liquid flytrap had dozens of the things floating in it, so hadn’t been cleaned in days; there’s a theme here.
Customers were mixed with one annoyingly playing loud music on her phone.
There’s no sign of the Casque Mark plaque encountered by Rex, unsurprisingly. The somewhat eccentric though friendly landlady told me that she knew nothing about ale and was learning from ‘ale drinkers’. There were three pumps, one unclipped. I chose the Ghost Ship (£4.50) over Landlord and it was desperately cloudy, the landlady informing me that it was either ‘…the first or last pint’ or that the beer had been sitting in the pipe ‘…for a few days’. Dear God it was awful, tasting a little like the smell given off by burning car tyres. I waded through it as best I could, so as not to offend the old bird who at least can be commended for her honesty.
What with the awful beer and strange customers, it’s a bit Royston Vasey, so I’ll not be returning.
On 27th August 2021
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Royal Sovereign
I didn’t expect to see a Casque Mark sign around the Clapton area, so was a very welcome sign as I walked up to the door. They had on Sharp’s Doom Bar, a London Pride clip reversed, and St Austell Tribute (£3.60 a pint). Not the most exciting range, but the Tribute was in excellent condition. I suppose that the pub is named after Admiral Collingwood’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar, but I forgot to ask the barman to confirm this.
This was no doubt once a Charrington’s pub judging by the trademark green-banded glazing in the windows. There’s a bit of etched glass in one of the doorways, but otherwise it’s all comparatively recent stuff in here. Other features are the exposed brickwork wall on the left, which has on it an old wooden Flowers Original sign. It’s bare-boarded, furnished with banquettes and standard tables and chairs, and apparently has a beer garden at the back, although I didn’t visit it. There was an open plan kitchen at the back and to the right of the bar counter, but there was nothing going on there when I was in on Saturday lunchtime. They clearly have music, as there was a twin deck DJ system by the main entrance with all the attendant cabling trailing around in the corner.
Actually I quite liked this pub for some reason. The friendly barman and the decent drop of Tribute must have helped somewhat.
On 14th October 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]