Sunday, July 22, 2012

William IV, Leyton

The latest leg on our tour of De Moor's Top 25 London bars takes us to the William IV, on High Road Leyton. After a bracing walk (the pub is a good 20 minutes from the nearest London Underground station), we found the pub to be unassuming and quiet on a Thursday evening. Kitted out like a old-fashioned local, but with an unusually large floor space and a huge bar running the whole length of the building, there were bare tables, mismatched chairs and threadbare carpet. (And a bar billiards table, which we didn't play but the mere sight of took me back to an earlier generation!)

I mention that there was lots of space in the bar both because it was nice to be able to find a quiet corner to drink in, and because despite the quiet evening, the bar seemed to be understaffed. In fact they had to close the kitchen half an hour early (after we asked about the last food orders only 40 minutes before), so sadly we're not able to review the food available (although the menu looked nice).