The Water Poet

Just off Shoreditch High Street there's a tangle of cramped cobbled roads all laced with the double yellow line parking treatment. You'd be forgiven for walking straight past Folgate Street, but we strongly recommend a visit to the Water Poet if you're in the area.

Whatever impression you get from the outside, the interior is a completely different story. It's like a Tardis in this place. A pool parlour with two pool tables, a main bar and basement bar, together with a separate dining area and even a barn in the already glorious beer garden are all there when you step through the front door. It's a real hive of entertainment here, not least because they show movies via their fully-fledged subterranean cinema system.

By way of food and drink, they fail to disappoint once again. Several ciders, foreign and local draft beers, European lagers and English ales lie in wait behind the bar, primed and ready for glugging. Otherwise their bar snacks, own kitchen-cooked burgers, beer battered fish or baked spring chicken are there to tempt the taste buds.

During the summer, the guys at the Water Poet chuck all the meat they can wrestle to the ground onto sizzling barbecue grills for dozens of hungry mouths. BBQs are served between 16:00 - 21:00 during the week and from 16:00 on Sundays. This is the perfect combination if there's a big game on the telly. Just as well really because there are several wall-mounted screens around the venue, including one in the barn which proves extremely popular - no surprise there, then!

A highly sociable group of people work the Water Poet pub and clearly value their clientèle. Pay them a visit and see exactly why we're shouting about them.

Opening times: Monday - Saturday: 12:00 - 23:00, Sunday: 12:00 - 22:30