The Bell, Aldgate

I'm afraid I cannot echo the glowing review posted immediately below mine. From the outside The Bell is a sorry sight indeed, a gloomy and forbidding corner building tucked away in the sort of neglected East London back street that makes you think twice before getting your phone out of your pocket. Inside you find a large open-plan room kitted out with traditional London pub decor, so while it starts to feel slightly less menacing it is certainly not a place where I could be encouraged to linger - especially not when Youngs and Bombardier are the only ales available.

1 Sep 2011 20:47

Wheatsheaf, Southwark

To be honest I only have a hazy memory of the original Wheatsheaf, a casualty of the Thameslink upgrade programme and now lost forever beneath a new railway viaduct, but this atmospheric cellar bar is a creditable replacement on the Southwark circuit. Bit too polished for my tastes - like an upmarket version of the Hole In The Wall at Waterloo - but a great range of beers from all around the UK and well worth a stopoff.

10 Aug 2011 22:27

Devonshire House, Crouch End

Reborn last year as a middling Wetherspoons. The lowly aggregate rating of 3.6 betrays its former life as an All Bar One, nowadays you can at least get a decent pint.

28 Jun 2011 19:06