Royal Sovereign, E5

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 27^th August 2021 - rating: 3
[User has posted 1316 recommendations about 1295 pubs]