The Coppermill is an agreeable pub on Coppermill Lane which I would describe as 'local' if I'd not spent the evening with a couple of Spanish-speaking ladies on the table to my left and two lasses over from Cork for a long 'weekend' (and it was only Thursday) in Walthamstow on the table to my right. Long known as a perfect place for organized loafing by people who reside at the St James's Street end of the High Street, this pub has quietly become a favourite of people from further afield, such as the intrepid souls who wander the hostelries of the Lea Valley of a summer evening and make the trek over from Springfield Park, the Walthamstow marshes and past the reservoirs.

As with the Cock, I will repeat my injunction never to expect a pub to give you more than you take to it, but I can honestly say I have never spent an evening among the friendly imbibers at the Coppermill without finding myself chatting amiably to someone I'd never met before.