Shepherd's Inn, Beckton, E6

Visited 09/12/25 No cask. Keg was Cruz, Madri, K1664 Blanc, Moretti, Guinness, Grimbergen dark beer, their own branded lager and Ekstra another traditional beer from Svyturys. This was a surprisingly plush and ultra festive location. Bare boarded flooring with the bar counter in the front left-hand corner as you enter the venue. Plenty of regular tables and chairs, with some of the tables around the bar counter turned over to drinkers. There is a slightly raised area to the immediate right of the entrance with a studded brown leather banquette around its perimeter and serving a few regular tables. A small stage area opposite the bar counter had a large screen above it showing animated wintery scenes and the upper part of the walls housed a lot of framed oil paintings depicting a variety of things, as did the walls around other parts of the perimeter of the venue. The windows on the rear part as well as some of the demarcations between bar and rear dining area had heavy drapes that presumably would be pulled across to close parts of the venue off. The venue had some amazing Xmas decorations, and it was one of the most festive drinking establishments I have ever visited.

Facebook page of Shepherd's Inn - www.facebook.com

Official site of Shepherd's Inn - www.berneliaiuk.co.uk

Facebook page of Shepherd's Inn - www.facebook.com

Official site of Shepherd's Inn - www.berneliaiuk.co.uk

This is now a Lithuanian bar and restaurant, and is nothing like the sports bar it used to be. It has the name in English (Shepherd's Inn) outside on the left, with a Lithuanian name (Berneliu Uzeiga), which translates to Boys' Inn on the right. It's large inside, with an open area leading to the bar, with the main dining area on the left and with all tables laid for diners. There was no-one either eating or drinking at the tables, so I didn't discover whether drinkers were confined to stools at the bar. It's a bit corporate, with all staff in uniform of some kind, and who must have been a bit under employed as there was only me and three other punters at the bar. But they were friendly enough. I was presented with my 25p change in a little box with a receipt; maybe that's a Lithuanian custom, or perhaps it is supposed to encourage leaving it as a tip. There are gilt framed paintings (or prints thereof I guess) on the walls in the dining area. There's no real ale of course. There were however four Lithuanian beers on tap and not having the slightest idea what any of them were I trusted to pot luck and opted for the first one - Svyturys (means lighthouse I was told) Ekstra - which was really very good indeed. And so it should be at £3.25 a half - I didn't leave a tip as this is not a custom in England. They also had some of the usual bogstandard stuff on such as Amstel, 1664, and Peroni. I didn't look at a menu. I can't imagine me visiting again - unless I visit Lithuania and enjoy the food so much that I want to repeat the experience in the UK. Seems unlikely.