The Britannia (ex Victoria Park), Bow  

In a recent refurbishment, the tawdry Victoria Park pub has been replaced by a far more sombre Britannia. Gone are the garish pool tables, video screens, gaming machines and bright colour scheme, to be replaced by a smarter, sober, paint job and furniture of the now customary (or is it mandatory?) mix and match secondhand style (it's quite nostalgic to see an old church pew lurking in the corner, a relic of the pub's Falcon and Firkin days). The bar itself looks a lot less like a provincial, binge-drinkers' fantasy - the bright lights and garish pre-mixers are gone and there's now some decent booze on the pumps (Meantime, Franziskaner Weissbier, Addlestone's etc). Though the big beer garden still remains out back. Anyway, enough of the history, what's the pub like now? It's early days but, apart from the removal of the toys, the overall impression doesn't seem much different from before. The clientele is much as it was, we guess that's only to be expected and the pub still seems to be aimed at the Friday/Saturday night crowd. There's a lot of floor space devoid of furniture and there are decks, mixer, PA, lights etc, hinting at club ambitions. This didn't really work for the old pub and we're not sure it will now. During the day and in the evenings early in the week, the atmosphere is simply lacking - hardly anyone around and the club gear just looks incongruous. It seems to us, that aiming for one demographic doesn't make financial sense in these parsimonious times. The Britannia's a huge pub in a prime site, it could become a destination for all who live around here. Maybe things will pick up, but right now we feel it's a sadly under-exploited opportunity.

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