Another football-related venture in to new territory, featuring a visit to the Essex coast for the game, followed by a visit to some rather excellent pubs in an area of the capital where I had never been drinking before. Here's what happened....
The Essex seaside resort much loved by Londoners and apparently a hotspot for jellied eels, whatever they are, was the destination for my brother and I as we set off on the train from Halifax after breakfast at the Shay Cafe on our latest football-related trip. Southend was an erstwhile large town that was granted city status as recently as 2022, having started out as a mere cluster of fisherman's cottages in the former village of Prittlewell. It wasn't until the 19th century and the construction of the railway from the capital that it began to increase in population, and Southend became a popular holiday resort with thousands upon thousands of Londoners visiting every year. As a reminder of those days, the longest pier in the world is here, reaching out for an amazing 1.33 miles (2.14 km) into the Thames Estuary.
I didn't see the pier, nor did I even see the sea, our train journey from Liverpool Street station to Southend Victoria taking us on an inland route. So we stopped at Stratford, close to the London Stadium, the home of West Ham United these days, and where they are showing that ABBA resurrection thing that seems to have had the crowds flocking in. And then it was on through the at times pleasant Essex countryside passing through places such as Billericay (made famous by Ian Dury for the best song about anyone called Dickie), Wickford, and Rayleigh. We passed through Prittlewell, near to where Southend United FC's Roots Hall stadium is located, and about 2 minutes later we pulled in to the city's Victoria Station.
A beer was required on what was another hot afternoon, although there weren't many options in the city if you were looking for real ale, with only two pubs in listed in the 2025 Good Beer Guide, a pretty poor showing for a city of 180,000. (Will there be more in the 2026 Guide, which is due to be released to the world any day now?) One of the two was fairly close to the station, located on the edge of a large and modern shopping area which could have been anywhere in the country with all the usual retail outlets on parade. The Old Trout Tavern with its blue pastel exterior and large front window looks like it could have been a fish and chip shop in a previous life. We walked up a couple of steps from the street, and into a busy pub with most of the tables taken, occupied mainly by middle-aged guys, some wearing Southend United shirts. The bar was located at the back of the room where two ladies were doing a sterling job in keeping the room lubricated. There were three hand pumps on the bar. One was serving a house beer, Trout Ale, which is brewed for the pub by Brentwood Brewery. There were two other beers on, another one from Brentwood, Legacy a 4% easy drinking, slightly sweet amber bitter, with a light hoppy finish which I tried (NBSS 3), whilst I also had a pint of Westway from Portobello Brewing, which is described by the brewery as a London pale ale. It another 4% beer, brewed using both British and US hops with a malty base and was quite well-balanced and refreshing (NBSS 3). The pub had a pretty friendly atmosphere and it seems they have plenty of events such as quiz nights, live music, and karaoke, though presumably not all at the same time.
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| Old Trout Tavern, Southend |
We finished our beers, and set off walking to the football ground. It was about a 20 minute walk as we moved out of the city centre into the suburbs, passing modern blocks and more traditional housing as we approached the ground. We were directed around to the away end by a couple of friendly bobbies, and we got in pretty quickly, and immediately spotted one or two familiar faces. Roots Hall is very much a traditional football ground, with individual stands on each side of the ground with the one behind the goal opposite the away end having an upper level. After a few minutes the teams came out and whilst Town played some decent football at times, they were up against both a a stronger team and one expected to be in the mix at the end of the season, having missed out in last season's play off final. Some of the decisions made by the referee were puzzling, to say the least. And so in a game that had 14 minutes added time in the second half, Southend ran out 3-0 winners. The club though would win no awards for their catering, the cheeseburger we sampled having the consistency of a hard rubber disc, and it was presented in a dried-out, crumbling defrosted bun. After an excellent burger at Braintree and a superb Lincolnshire sausage at Scunthorpe, it was a real drop in standards!
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| Roots Hall Stadium, Southend |
We left the ground and walked to Prittlewell station, passing a number of Southend's fan pubs, and an attractive village church en route, the journey taking just short of 15 minutes. We had a little wait for the train, during which time the platform filled up predominantly with football fans who'd been to the game. The journey back to London took just over an hour, with Southend fans getting off at many of the stations on the way. We arrived back at Liverpool Station, where, giving the huge Wetherspoons within the station a miss, our first pub of the evening was waiting just outside the station on Broad Street.
The Lord Aberconway is named after a former chairman of the Metropolitan Railway. It has a lovely traditional exterior as befits a Nicholsons pub, which then extends to a beautiful interior with many attractive features including a number of booths, a lovely mirrored bar back, and an upstairs gallery which is used as a dining area. The whole look is very tourist-friendly, and indeed a number were enjoying the pub's delights, along with a large family group, couples, and a few lads enjoying a beer or two. The beers were fairly conservative as you tend to find in a Nicholsons pub, although one pump clip was turned around, and a second one soon followed, the beer my brother ordered going off, for which the lad behind the bar apologised profusely. I went for a pint of Anthem, a 3.8% session pale ale from St Austell, who also brew the house beer found in all Nicholsons pubs across the land. The beer features 4 British hops - Target, Jester, Olicana, and Harlequin - which along with a number of light malts used produced a light and refreshing beer (NBSS 3). Overall, the Lord Aberconway was a decent place to start the evening, but if you are ever in the area, please bear in mind that like a lot of pubs in the City it doesn't open on Sundays.
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| A traditional queue at the Lord Aberconway |
We then made our way through the busy streets towards Spitalfields, passing some lovely buildings and sights on the way on what was a warm evening. We arrived at Brick Lane, where there was a lively cosmopolitan atmosphere and plenty of people were milling about or drinking and/or dining at tables set up outside one of numerous bars and restaurants on what is a quite a long road, with plenty enjoying themselves on the site of the former Truman's Brewery (opening image). Graffiti brightened many a dull wall or closed shutter. The aroma of spices was wafting in the air, as we dodged a couple of guys standing outside rival curry houses trying to entice us inside with promises of a free(!) pickle tray or pint of Cobra. We declined politely, as there was real ale to be drunk before our minds turned to curry.
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| Views of Brick Lane |
Just off Brick Lane was the Pride of Spitalfields, a small traditional pub with a good reputation for its beer. It was busy inside, but also very warm, and so a large number of people were stood outside or sat on the pavement enjoying a cooling drink. A guy dropped a glass and it smashed on the road, prompting one of the girls working behind the bar to dash out with a long-handled dustpan and brush. We walked in, a couple of small rooms and a tiny bar with four hand pumps. It was my round and I maintained the day's Essex connection by ordering a pint of Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold, prompting the friendly landlady to ask where we were from when she heard my accent. A nice welcome. We took our beers back outside, and enjoyed drinking them in the warm evening air. Brewer's Gold has been around for a long time, winning Supreme Champion Beer of the Britain at the 2005 and 2006 Great British Beer Festivals. It was quite pleasant, a 4% golden ale with hints of tropical fruit courtesy of the hop which gives the beer its name (NBSS 3). Apparently it makes up 60% of the brewery's sales, Crouch Vale having been established in the grandly-named Essex town of South Woodham Ferrers in 1981. It was unfortunately too busy on this visit to fully appreciate the charms of the Pride of Spitalfields, and so I made a mental note to return at a quieter time to enjoy what my brother regards as a rather good pub. And as a touch of synchronicity, as we were leaving another glass was dropped and smashed on the road, and as before one of the girls from behind the bar rushed out with the long-handled dustpan and brush to clear up the shattered remnants....
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| The Pride of Spitalfields |
The next pub was about 10 minutes walk away, which involved going back to Brick Lane, where the same curry MC's chucked in a few more poppadoms in an effort to lure us in to their place to eat. Not hungry yet, we said, more beer needed. Cobra, they said. Real ale, we said. We turned off a few minutes later and walked along a quiet neighbourhood street and shortly afterwards our next pub appeared on a deserted street corner, the evening light having by now faded.
The Carpenters Arms stands on the corner of Cheshire Street and St Matthew's Row in Bethnal Green and is a former Truman's house. It was built around 1871, and it has something of a notorious past. In the 1960's, the pub was bought by the gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray for their mother, Violet. The twins had grown up in the area, the family home was close by, and they had gone to the school near the pub. It became the location for many of their business meetings as well as family parties. Apparently the twins liked the pub because the bar was long and narrow and it had just one entrance so they could see who was coming in. It is claimed that Reggie took a carving knife from the pub kitchen to stab Jack “The Hat” McVitie at a house party in Stoke Newington in October 1967, and when he died in 2000, Reggie's funeral procession went along Cheshire Street and past the pub. Today the pub has a few displays and pictures of its former owners, but otherwise it is a smart and comfortable pub appealing to a youngish and trendy clientele.
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| The Carpenters Arms |
Beer-wise, there are a couple of beers on hand pump, with Five Points Best a regular, but reflecting the type of clientele the pub attracts there are a few craft beers on tap. From the cask selection, I went for a pint of Plateau from Sussex brewers Burning Sky, a familiar beer that I have drunk many times. Pale gold in colour, zesty, and refreshing, and hopped with US and NZ varieties, it delivers a sharp bitterness and plenty of flavour for a 3.5% ABV beer. It was the best beer of the day thus far (NBSS 3.5). Amongst the keg beers I noticed London Black from Anspach & Hobday, so I got myself a half. I am not one for drinking a lot of dark beers but this 4.4% nitro porter is something special. Bringing together the rich history and heritage of London Porters with modern brewing techniques, London Black is, in the words of the brewery, "characterful, yet smooth, balanced and effortlessly drinkable. Notes of roasted coffee and chocolate are balanced by a touch of red fruit from the hops, and brought together with the smooth, creamy mouthfeel achieved by the use of nitrogen." Some top beer in a great pub with a notorious past.
We had one more pub in our sights for the evening, which was about 5 minutes walk away through quiet residential streets. The Kings Arms is an imposing pub on a street corner on Buckfast Street, and is much larger than any of the pubs we had visited over the evening. We walked in and saw there was a large central bar selling half a dozen cask beers and a number from the taps. My eyes were immediately drawn to one of the cask beers. The branding and name were familiar but I'd only ever seen them on a keg font or can before, so I had to go for a pint of Parade from Beak. It was two pints, my brother confirmed. I told the guy behind the bar I'd never seen it on cask before and he said they do occasionally provide them with a cask. The pub was busy, so we found a place to stand across from the bar. Quite a mixed crowd, not quite as young and trendy perhaps as the Carpenters, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. In years gone by you could imagine them having a good old Cockney knees up around the joanna here. Meanwhile back to the beer. Parade is brewed using Citra, Mosaic, and Idaho 7 which imparts huge tropical fruit and bubblegum flavours, with the keg version coming out at 6% ABV. This cask version was brewed to 5.5% and was my beer of the day (NBSS 4), but I think I do prefer it on keg, the slight fizz cutting through the sweetness which lingered longer on the palate on this version. But that is splitting hairs! A good pint and a fine pub on which to end the evening's proceedings.
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| The King's Arms, Bethnal Green |
We made our way back to Brick Lane, where the night was in full swing, the music, the sounds, and aromas seemingly ramped up from earlier in the evening. The curry MC's were still out but engaged with other passers-by so they missed their chance to try once more to get us to call in their place. We walked on, stopping a little further on at a quietish restaurant where my brother had been before, and here we ended what had been a very long but good day - aside from the football, unfortunately - with a decent curry....
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