A proper old-town pub on King's Head Street, named after the Crimean War battle and serving the local fishermen, ferry workers, and a handful of regulars for the past century and a half. Real ales from East Anglian breweries — Adnams, Mauldon, Crouch Vale — and a kitchen that does honest pub food a notch above the usual: a good steak-and-ale pie, decent fish and chips, oysters from up the river when in season.
Best in the evening with a fire going in winter. The crowd is locals and the occasional ferry passenger who has wandered down from the Quay; it is not a tourist pub, which is the point.