London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Other locations – Romford
Moon and Stars, Romford RM1 (London)
Contemporary pub (Wetherspoon)
99 South Street, Romford RM1 1NX
T 01708 730117 w www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-moon-and-stars
Open 0900-2400 (0100 Thu-Sun). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 8 (Greene King, Wells & Young’s, 5 sometimes unusual guests) Cask Marque, Other beer Regular Wetherspoon kegs and bottles, Also Real cider, a few wines.
Food Wetherspoon menu, Outdoor Tables on street, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Seasonal events, big screen major sports, usual Wetherspoon promotions.
Romford was a small Essex market town in 1799 when Edward Ind bought the Star Inn, a pub with adjoining brewery in the High Street next to the river Rom. As Ind & Smith, and later Ind Coope, the brewery grew into by far the biggest local industry. By 1970 it was a core component of Allied, one of the then ‘Big Seven’ national brewers, employing 1,000 workers on an 8ha site. Yet a mere 23 years later, it was closed by new owners Carlsberg, and the site redeveloped into the Brewery shopping centre and leisure complex, with only a 50m chimney and some historic façades preserved as a reminder of its former use. Behind one of these is the award winning Havering Museum.
Brewery site, museum, shops and market might attract you to Romford today but the town is sadly bereft of pubs worthy of a special trip. About the best bet, right by the station and the only local pub with a Good Beer Guide listing, is this JD Wetherspoon. Opened in 1994, it’s a typical branch of the chain for its time, converted from a large high street shop with standard issue saloon bar furniture and some pleasant mirrored booths. Extra interest is added by a skylight, patches of red marble, a street terrace, and praiseworthy efforts both to stock good cask beer and to provide a community meeting place, as attested by the pub’s own newsletter and a notice board for local events and services. When I called, beers from Batemans, Brewsters, Oakham, Oxfordshire and Wold Top joined regulars Abbot, Ruddles Best and Courage Directors on the bar, and the pub keenly supports Wetherspoon festivals.
National Rail Romford Cycling Link to LCN+ 15 Walking Links to Thames Chase paths
Leave a Reply