The Britannia

A pub since 1879, this great big boozer on the north side of the east end's Victoria Park recently reopened as an independent pub.

And great big it is. Enormous, in fact, and equally loud in its visual tributes to Britannia, with huge swathes of red, white and blue decorating the interior. A healthy selection of not-your-usual-suspects spirits on the back-bar suggests a lively cocktail trade - rare to find pubs stocking Hine and Hennessey XO - but there's no list in sight and on our trip, on a cold and drizzly August weeknight, we play safe and order wine.

It's only afterwards that we discover house wine is served 'en vrac' (a clever French concept which keeps it fresh) and sold by the carafe. No flies on this one, it's simply a good, honest pub without pretensions, and we suspect a great place for a bloody good knees-up!