City Pride, E14 8JH
- 15 Westferry Road (map of this place)
- E14 8JH
- foundationgroup.co.uk/...
- Nearby Tube stops: Canary Wharf
Has been sold for a whacking sum of money, and will be redeveloped. --Kake
Drinks
£�3.05 for a pint each of Dry Blackthorn and Tetley's. [Prices as of July 2008]
Food
Food served noon till 9:30pm, seven days a week.New menu launched May 2008, all food cooked from scratch.
There are two vegetarian main courses: Penne with tomatoes, vegetables and vegetarian cheddar (�6.25) and Mediterranean risotto served in a whole pepper (�5.95). Mostly the menu is weighted towards meat (view the complete menu online). I had the Paella (�6.75), which was pretty nice for pub food; the squid wasn't overcooked, and the sauce was nicely spiced and had just the right amount of oil (although the prawns were very ickle). I'd order it again. Ingvar had chips and onion rings; I didn't try either of these, but they looked as though they'd probably be somewhat nicer than generic pub freezer-to-lukewarm-oil offerings. [Prices as of May 2002]
Service and Ambience
We were here 9–10:30pm on a Friday night. The tables were sticky; unsurprising, since I didn't see any of the bar staff wiping any of them down when they cleared glasses. The service was a bit patchy in general; friendly, but I think rather inexperienced. The style and volume of the music varied somewhat ridiculously during the time we were there, from PJ Harvey to bleepy dance stuff, and from perfectly comfortable to seriously getting in the way of conversation.
The decor is modelled after Ye Olde Traditional Pubbe; I quite liked it, particularly the tables made out of the treadle bits of old Singer sewing machines.
Unlike the other places (All Bar One and the ilk) we'd passed on the way here, this pub wasn't ridiculously overcrowded, but the clientele seemed to be pretty similar to the others; drunk people in suits and/or too much makeup, yelling at each other. Best of a bad lot, possibly (though I'd love to be proved wrong...).
Originally the City Arms, and a right hole. Not too bad now, but neither one thing nor the other - too expensive and snobbish for the 'real' locals (who prefer the nearby Anchor and Hope) and a bit far away and not shiny enough for the Canary Wharf types. - [DocGonz0]?