The Railway Tavern, Bethnal Green  

The new and the old are sometimes only a whisper away from each other. So up the street from the pie-tastic Camel and the louche Florist is the other East End - the way it used to be. The Railway Tavern is a traditional local for those older Eastenders who haven't decanted eastwards to Dagenham or Braintree. Rather attractive from the outside, the interior is a sad mishmash of successive partial refurbishments, probably dating back to the 1970s. It's overly bright and people look at you when you cross the threshold. All in all, a potential candidate for a poor rating. However, it's sometimes worth persevering and we quickly managed to break though the wall of suspicion and the nagging feeling we were gatecrashing. During the mammoth quiz night, the jollity started to flow and at the end of the night free food arrived, courtesy of the hardworking landlady. Overall, we had a fun and lively time, not something you can say about every pub. If you decide to chance your luck in this back-street boozer, you'll find a band of loyal regulars, a dart board and two chubby pub cats. There certainly aren't many places like this anymore.

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