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The Water Poet, Shoreditch, E1
E1
E1 6BX
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Water Poet
A pretty backstreet pub, with a London-wide reputation but due to close imminently (redevelopment). The main bar is a fairly open L space with bare stripped board flooring and a slightly odd red maroon and gold colour scheme, bordello-esque. There's some quasi gothic stylings off on the side wall – barque mirrors and that sort of garb. A couple of rooms for dining branch off behind so it's actually a deceptively large place. A bank of four handpumps as you enter with another two hoiked away off left which I didn't see until after I ordered. Three ales on despite it being the penultimate day of trading; Sharps Doom Bar, Redemption Fellowship and Purity Mad Goose (NBSS 2) which tasted fusty. It's an average pub, just a bit dressed up in stylings to appeal to the first wave of hipsters and city suits who think they’re a bit edgy. 5.5
On 1st April 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5121 recommendations about 5104 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
. Wittenden left this review about The Water Poet
Large,rambling pub close to Liverpool Street Station.Would probably be pleasant out of hours, but by five thirty on a warm June Saturday it was packed and deafening.My notes said "hell hole", a touch unfairly. Our group all agreed that the cask ales-Siren Craft Liquid Mistress and Thornbridge Jaipur IPA were on the warm side.Other cask beers included ones from Redemption and Truman's.
On 1st July 2018
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 283 recommendations about 282 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Water Poet
Clearly a very trendy place in which to be seen.
Unfortunately the place was rammed and service was nigh-on unavailable so we left.
Visited autumn 2016.
On 19th October 2017
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1997 recommendations about 1963 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Water Poet
First opened in 1992 as the tongue-twisting Pewter Platter Tavern, this is a large, multiple room pub set down a side street between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations. You enter into an open main bar area which offers plenty of standing room in an L-shaped space with the servery to the rear right. The bar has a dark wood counter and bar back with some retro bubble lamps shades suspended above. Large windows along the front and right hand walls allow a bit of light in from the narrow street outside and a row of high tables and stools run underneath with several button backed sofas and standard chairs over to the left under some elaborately framed mirrors and a TV screen showing live football. Further back there are some tub chairs, a fireplace with a fancy mirror above and a skeleton sat in a chair under a top hat which has been pinned to the wall. A door to the left leads into a games room - a narrow, wood panelled space with two pool tables and limited seating options. A passage to the rear of the main room has a single sofa next to a kitchen serving hatch and a nice relief artwork and leads to a dining room to the right with bar access and some formally arranged tables ideal for those wanting food. Both the games room and dining room had their own TV screens showing the same football fixture. Further back, you emerge into a covered garden with long rows of picnic benches and thousands of fairly lights, which created a nice effect when lit during the hours of darkness. An uber-hip soundtrack played throughout the pub and there was a good mid-week, post-work buzz about the place, which was mainly frequented by a younger crowd, with a conspicuous absence of suits.
There were six ales available on handpull - Truman's Swift and Zephyr, Sharps Doom Bar, Thornbridge Jaipur, Purity Mad Goose and Dark Star Partridge. I hadn't tried Jaipur for a good year or two, so decided to have a pint, which was in good condition but didn't seem to pack the same kind of punch I recall from drinking it in the past. Reasonable bottle and keg beer options were also available.
I didn't really have any expectations for this place, which I only visited because I passed an A-board they'd left on the main road which reminded me of the pub's existence. However, it turned out to be a pretty good venue, with a nice atmosphere, separate areas to suit different customer groups and good beer. For all of Shoreditch's trendy reputation, I still find it tricky getting hold of good cask ale in the area, so this place is definitely somewhere I'll refer back to in the future.
On 25th May 2016
- 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 Water Poet
It's difficult to know where to start with this pub - so let's start with the beer. They had on Doom Bar; the Truman's pairing of Zephyr and Swift; Purity Mad Goose; Redemption Urban Dusk; and Thornbridge Jaipur. There should be something there for most people's taste. They obviously do food, and although I didn't see a menu I spotted a chalkboard offering "small plates" - a half pint of unshelled prawns was £6.
The pub itself is larger than it appears from the outside, although it's apparently now been extended into three properties. The main bar area as you enter (the one with the full range of ales) has a couple of tall tables/tall stools, plus a bit of unusual decor in the form of an industrial size weighing machine. The pool room is still there on the left; and as you walk back to the left past the servery there's an area with sofas and armchairs; and off to the right behind the servery is another fairly large room with a fair number of normal tables and chairs. One of my companions was somewhat intrigued by the models of cherubs on the wall by the entrance to this room, as this is apparently not the sort of thing you see in pubs where he lives. This room also has its own small bar counter, but the couple of real ales available here were repeats of those to be found in the main bar. At the back behind this area was a large outside area - mostly covered but with an uncovered area that would no doubt be used by smokers.
I found this to be an intriguing pub. The ale selection is very good, and the Mad Goose I had was on fine form. We were in there early evening before it got too busy, and when it was easy to get a table in the back room, but I'm sure that it's the sort of place that would get very busy later on. But I would happily visit this one again.
On 22nd February 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Water Poet
A large sprawling kind of pub with two main bars plus some covered areas leading to the beer garden,beers I noted were Trumans Zephyr, Purity Mad Goose, Doom Bar.Redemption Big Chief as well as something from Hackney Brewery. Very busy with city workers as you would expect but a decent stop off all the same.
On 5th September 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1879 recommendations about 1852 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Water Poet
Nice pub and nice staff with a good selection of real ales but at an eye watering £4.60 a pint I Do not think I will be returning again.
On 22nd February 2015
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Water Poet
Finally managed to get round to visiting to see how this place performs on an early mid week evening. Will agree with Clive that this remains an ‘In place’ for the surrounding office workers and Hoxtonites. It was packed out early evening with all three serving areas going, including the extra room on the opposite side of the outside courtyard.
Lively, mixed and varied crowd of all ages and creeds. Plenty of office workers mingling early evening and these are steadily replaced by the surrounding student population as the evening gets later. But still probably remains too Bohemian and too loud for an old traditionalist like me.
They appear to move more bottled wine and bottled Lagers that you stick bits of fruit in than ale. But in saying that the Ale choice has certainly improved since my last visit and there are now four handpumps on the front bar area. These were Adnams, London Pride, Doombar and Trumans Runner from the concern trying to revive the name and brewing at the Nethergate Brewery. This last one was a nice touch when considering this is one of the closest pubs to the site of the former Trumans Brewery on Brick Lane.
As Clive mentions, if you’re not up to mingling with the crowd then this place is best visited outside of peak time, otherwise its queuing several deep at the small serving areas dotted about the pub. However the front bar was being worked by a bar maid who was the best example of juggling three orders in parallel that I have seen and was a credit to her profession.
On 27th January 2012
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2129 recommendations about 2004 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Water Poet
I’ve been in here a few times and it’s an attractive pub with somewhat quirky décor in an old cobbled street just off Bishopsgate. It does seem to have become the ‘in’ place to be seen and consequently it can get very packed. The layout isn’t that conducive to vertical drinking and much of the space is taken up with those infuriating sofas that would be more suited to an Ikea showroom than a busy city pub. There’s a side room with a pool table and a restaurant area at the back plus an outside patio that I imagine will be popular in Summer. Usual beers are Pride and ESB but on my last visit neither were on which is rather unforgivable on a Friday lunchtime. Worth a visit during the quieter days of the week but steer well clear on a Thursday or Friday.
On 6th March 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Water Poet
Made a first visit on Sunday afternoon when we'd finally had enough of calculating how much people in the Truman brewery markets were asking for all the old 60's and 70's tat that I had long taken down the local dump a long time ago.
Interesting place, and certainly wasn't what I was expecting a stones throw from the glass towers of the Broadgate development.
Multi roomed with the front bar area decorated in the style of a baroque bordello with interesting oil painting dominating the back section.
And then two more large rooms beyond , one being a billiards room with pool tables and the other being a decent sized traditional styled dining area with an interesting mixture of furniture and decorations.
And then finally a really impressive outside courtyard area sporting several large jumbreallas which provides a great space for an outside pint overlooked by the glass towers.
Very, very busy on this Sunday afternoon and although we didn't try it, several people were queuing for a table in the dining area so guess the food must be pretty good.
The beers are Fullers and London Pride and ESB were on. Not the best pint of Pride I've ever had but more than drinkable.
Interesting crowd of Shoreditchites on this Sunday afternoon and would be interesting to see how it mixes with the City workers during the week.
Initial reaction was perhaps a bit too Bohemian for an old traditionalist like myself, but was certainly warming to it by the end.
On 1st February 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2129 recommendations about 2004 pubs]