Yesterday, I had lunch with a friend at the Last Post pub, opposite Southend Central Station, right in the centre of the town.

It was a pleasant occasion and while I can’t comment on the alcohol, everything else was more than satisfactory. I have been to the pub 3 or 4 times before and recall once identifying it as a place to go if you were homeless since for the price of one coffee you can get unlimited refills and happily spend 3-4 hours there in a pleasant surrounding. I also once recall eating a more than acceptable breakfast there. Prior to that and going back before it was a pub (and hotel) it was the main post office in the town.

We ordered at the bar. My friend had a panini with hot chocolate and I had chicken wings with lemonade. Not only was the food nice and served with a smile, service was swift and it was genuinely cheap, with all the condiments – making it very good value. I liked the easy getatable free water and the fact that even at 12pm this rather large facility was beginning to fill up, only confirmed its popularity. I confess not to like the very evident “crack cocaine” slot machines but that was my only gripe. Me and my friend spent two profitable hours discussing quite deep subjects in relative privacy, only to be disturbed by the pleasant waitresses asking if everything was ok. Certain this is a place I intend to return to.

It struck my sense of humour that just up the road is the Railway Hotel, so different in many ways, attracting different clientele but both rightly very popular, not least that the Weatherspoons owner of the Last Post is pro-Brexit and the Railway owner, anti. Southenders are spoiled for choice with where to go to eat / drink in the High Street area, with the Last Post being one I can gladly recommend.