The Captain Kidd

Words by Simon Difford

Address: 108 Wapping High Street, London, E1W 2NE, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7480 5759
Website: view The Captain Kidd’s website
Door: Open door
Style: Pub (traditional British pub)
Food: Set menu

Review

"The Captain Kidd is a large and exuberant theme pub built on a magnificent site on the corner of the river at Wapping. The theme is, of course, Captain Kidd, the 17-century privateer. His history is graphically told on the walls of the bar. He was cruelly and many now think, unjustly done to death on nearby execution dockyard by The Town of Ramsgate.

This pub is an exuberant modern pastiche, and is proving a great success. A seemingly ancient archway takes you down a cobbled path to a big, cheerful ground-floor bar with a flagstone floor and genuinely brand-new 17th-century features."

That review, written for me by Edward Sullivan in 2001, still fabulously sums up The Captain Kidd. I should add that this theme pub's two main attractions, apart from the mock antique décor, are its enviable position with huge riverside terrace offering spectacular views up and down the river. And cheap drinks. Considering the Thames side location, very cheap drinks. This a Samuel Smith's owned pub so only the brewery's own branded products are sold, but they offer value for money.