Black Lion

This is my local pub, though I don’t often have time to pop in, it’s great to know that a great local is there for when I fancy a relaxed hour or three.
There is always a good range of beers, typically including Adnams and Doom. There is a long bar counter in the main lounge, service is friendly and fast. The pub is not dominated by music, though there will be some playing unless there is a big sporting event on.
The quiet bar has a smaller counter. Quiet is a relative term, there’s usually a good friendly hubbub.
Food is served at mealtimes, check the website before you go if you intend on eating there. Portions and flavours are robust. Menu choices are not extensive, there will be pies, omelettes and sandwiches on the menu at reasonable prices. It’s great to get a square meal now that so many pubs have gone gastro.
The pub is probably one of the oldest buildings in Plaistow, thought the frontage is only a century or two old, and the windows are far more recent. Stand back across the street and you can see what looks like a medieval roof line. There is a beer garden at the back, and at the front there is a seafood stall in the car park.

If you’re getting off the tube at Plaistow, your pub options are going to be quite limited, unless you fancy a Wheatherspoons drink-​factory or a face-​full of broken glass. But even with the bar set low, the Black Lion was a very pleasant and welcome surprise. Who would have expected an historic, CAMRA-​award-​winning Tudor pub, complete with thick-​hewn timbers, ambered-​glass windows and excellent beers on draught? Not this traveller. The handles carried Doom Bar, John Courage, and two guest beers, all of which were fresh and well-​poured. There are three mid-​size TV screens (only one was on, and the sound was very low), and this is a pub that welcomes the sporting type, but it is neither loud nor yobbish. The crowd at this Free House is almost exclusively locals, ranging from fringe-​hipsters to racing fans. You are not going to get smiles and high-​fives, but everyone doesn’t stop and stare when an «outsider» walks in either, thankfully. Service was a mixed bag – one friendly bartender and one aloof blonde girl who negligently smoked a vapourizer and looked as if she wouldn’t cross the street to piss in your mouth if your teeth were on fire (i.e. not very friendly). The lass had sass, though, and what are the stubbornly non-​trendy areas of NE London about if not a bit of attitude? Plaistow is no place the weak of heart or slow of wit, after all. If you want some doofus with a perma-​grin that stops dead at the eyes, go to a Kensington Starbucks (or, better yet, just leave London).