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The Lord Palmerston 

252-254 Forest Road
Walthamstow   

London, E17 5JN   map

Tel 020 8223 9911

Lord Palmerston's web site

The Lord Palmerston has a potman. ''A what?'' I hear you ask. A potman, for those under the age of 40, is generally a self-appointed, elderly, sometimes quite miserable person who takes it upon themselves to keep the tables clear of glasses aiding the flow of clean glasses available at the bar. Very noble, I know, but the most popular technique among their ilk is to place the fingers on the inside of your glass before realising you haven't finished your pint - when this happens it's probably best to let them have the glass anyway. 
The potman in the Palmerston is actually quite a jolly, friendly man but he does have the 'finger' technique off to a fine art... so beware!
Another traditional feature of the Palmerston is the fact that it still has a public bar, one of four main areas. The others are the saloon bar, the pool room at the back, which has enough room for two tables, and the strange area underneath the rather grand sweeping staircase which on Fridays doubles as a stage for karaoke night. There is also a garden at the rear and tables outside the front of the building where you can take in a view of one of the most complicated traffic junctions of E17.
As you can probably tell, this Victorian corner pub is huge and retains many of it's original interior and exterior architectural features.
An important point is that the beer is cheap, £1.99 for a pint of Young’s and £2.80 for Stella. The food is cheap, too, with one of the deals being two meals for £5. 
This is one of the few pubs in E17 that serves food and it's not too bad. It's hearty, basic pub grub with the usual selection of traditional 'Pub Favorites' as they like to call them. Their website is pretty informative so log on and take a look.
Sky Sports is a big attraction for the Palmerston with screens strewn all around the bar areas. They show all the big sporting events and the atmosphere can get a bit raucous, and be a little intrusive when you're eating your Southern Fried Chicken in a Basket or Stew with Suet Dumplings - not in basket, I hasten to add.

Editor March 2010