Red Lion Bishopgate

Went in here with some work colleagues on the run up to Christmas. You walk in to a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. It is a lovely little pub with lots of seating indoors and out. Out the back there is a lovely terrace area next to the river. Good selection of drinks at reasonable prices. The food is to die for (especially the puddings) I will definitely be visiting here more often. Well done to the team for making such a great place to visit.

It was Saturday morning and neither of us wanted to cook, we both did the old side eye thing until eventually I gave in and said "We will go out for Breakfast", We arrived at 11:30 and luckily I had booked a table as it was busy. (Fail to plan and you plan to fail kids!) On arrival at the bar, a very nice lady asked us if we wanted to eat indoor or out? It was sunny so we opted for out. Good choice. Now we have been married for 29 years (how she has put up with me for this length of time is a bloody mystery, " its like the turns of seasons and the tides of the sea") and we both have smartphones, but we both sat their and actually did that weird speaking to each other thing, we were having such a great time, that we ignored our phones, the buzzing on our wrists of the smart watches. and just enjoyed the ambience and atmosphere. Its that kind of a place. So time to order, we went for our traditional breakfasts, she had a Vegan and me being a "geezer" had the full english, she had smelly tea nad I had proper tea (Earl Grey and English Breakfast), sadly this only means a mug of tea, not a pot, if anyone from the Red Lion reads this, give us pots of tea, its our right. Tea arrived quickly, food soon after and it was delicious, we enjoyed watching people paddle boarding down the river and the English sunshine. After stuffing ourselves and ordering another mug of tea each (I refer you to my earlier comment), she popped to the loo and I paid the bill. (So I ended up losing in the end :) ) I asked "Is service included" and the reaction suggested that many people dont tip, come on people, if you get good service, at least leave a couple of quid, none of us wants to see American style tipping, but its nice to show appreciation. We then went for a walk along the river which is glorious. Now we had such a good time we had ignored numerous messages from our kids, who had both decided that the "radio silence" could only mean we had both died. I am sure i could sense their disappointment when they discover we were alive and only their dream of inheritance had died. So would I recommend the Red Lion? Hell yeah, but book first and remember the leave a tip for good service.