East London Riverside Mini ramble

Well there were no gory details, in fact it was fairly unexciting, certainly not enough to report to compete with some of the blogs on here. Notable moments include spotting a long closed pub, The Turk's Head now running as a caff, but with the exterior well preserved, The Pride then even the keg Whitbread going off as we entered Turners Old Star, my fellow crawler ended up with a diet coke!. The White Swan and Cuckoo looked ok from the outside, however inside resembled a cross between an airport executive lounge and a hairdressers with polished chrome and rows of soft black leather effect sofas. No real ale so no us either. The Captain Kidd was next, we knew in advance that there was only keg Sam Smiths on offer but we ventured in for a half to see the pub and experience the river views. Unfortunately our timing was now askew as we had to wait for the third member who had had to work in the morning. Firstly he got a bit lost near St Katherine's Dock, then on arrival as he was hungry he ordered a sandwich. It took an age to arrive, so we ended up having several halves of keg each time hoping this was the last. Finally on to The Prospect of Whitby, an interesting and historic pub, a few real ales on but nothing too exciting. We then gambled a little and walked up to Narrow St in Limehouse, past Gordon Ramsey's pub, The Narrow, and up to The Grapes. We half expected it to be closed as it tends to be 3 till 6 or so, however we were very pleased to find it open. A good old pub this, quite atmospheric and I like the little deck outside overlooking the river. Sadly here three experienced drinkers made the schoolboy error of ordering "Ridleys" Old Bob, which these days is a thin and watery Greene King beer. Oh dear. Our first pub of the day, The Town of Ramsgate was for me the best, with a reasonable ale selection. It's an interesting part of the world with lots of history still apparent, but not ideal for those in search of an eclectic range of ale.