Bars & Pubs

Approach Tavern
Comfortably negotiating Bethnal Green’s changing fortunes, the Approach sticks to a tried and trusted formula: good beer plus good food equals good pub. The pumps have almost the full run, from Fuller’s to several Czechs. Two blackboards list a host of unpretentious snacks and mains (jerk chicken, £9.50), enjoyed by a multinational clientele (French, Spanish, even cockney) of arty bohos and local families. Blazing heaters ensure the covered front beer garden is popular all year round. TV sport plays silently so the jukebox is uninterrupted, and cab telephone numbers are helpfully chalked up by the door to the popular upstairs art gallery.
Approach Tavern, 47 Approach Road, E2 9LY (020 8980 2321/www.theapproach.co.uk) Bethnal Green tube.

dreambagsjaguarshoes
Still as painfully trendy as the day it first opened, this bar – the result of two shops being banged together – offers a fast-track education in what made (and continues to make) Shoreditch cool. Grungey but glam scruffs lounge on the battered sofas, surrounded by scrawled-on walls and lots of tatty art; bar staff look like they have modelling contracts on the side; the background music is self-consciously edgy. Drinks – Belgian beers, lots of bottled lager, cocktails – are nothing special but the laid-back vibe and cosy party cellar make up for it in spades.
dreambagsjaguarshoes, 34-36 Kingsland Road, E2 8DA (020 7729 5830/www.dreambagsjaguarshoes.com) Old Street tube/rail. Feature continues

Escape Bar & Art W
A textbook case of a bar attempting to be all things to all people, Escape plies yummy mummies with pizzas by day and local media types with beers early evening, before the decks come out, the windows steam up, and dance music throbs until 4am Thursday to Saturday (wretched soulful house on our last visit). Somehow, it manages to pull it off. Bashed leather sofas and a vintage iMac running fractal patterns lend the place an East Village vibe.
Escape Bar & Art W, 214-216 Railton Road, SE24 0JT (020 7737 0333/www.escapebarandart.co.uk) Herne Hill rail.

Foundry
The name suggests industry, but the Foundry, stuck right in Shoreditch’s epicentre, goes for an artfully tatty look. Old school chairs and scruffy sofas sit alongside flickering monitors, chaotic graffiti, weird sculptures and bookshelves full of thrillers. It can seem a little try-hard when empty, but this long-standing bar does the walk to match its boho talk, with regular art, poetry and music events, leftfield tunes and right-on beverages (including Pitfield Organic Lager), while the staff are a pretty friendly bunch. On a good evening, it can even feel properly happening – some achievement, given the unforgiving lighting.
Foundry, 84-86 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3JL (020 7739 6900/www.foundry.tv) Old Street tube/rail.

Old Nun’s Head
Standing on the site of a nun’s decapitation, this place is now home to rather more civilised goings on. A good selection of beers matches the well thought out wine list (including organic and vegetarian options) with Brakespear, Coach House and Wells on the pumps. An unobtrusive telly shows football, while old tabletop arcade machines double up as, well, tables – both nice touches. Upstairs houses a function room for exhibitions and gigs, and the popular acoustic night, Easycome, every Wednesday. The regularly changing art on the walls is for sale.
Old Nun’s Head, 15 Nunhead Green, SE15 3QQ (020 7639 4007) Nunhead rail/78, P12 bus.

Prince Bonaparte
This large, handsome pub went through a bad period when service left a lot to be desired. Those days seem to be over and on a recent Sunday lunchtime visit staff were both plentiful and friendly. There’s funky-antique decor and a wood-panelled dining area. The menu is standard gastropub fare but the place is packed with diners all weekend and beyond. At the large horseshoe bar you’ll find Timothy Taylor Landlord, London Pride, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Beck’s Vier and three different fruit beers on tap. There are also plenty of bottled beers and a 50-strong wine list. For a real treat, splash out on the Torres Mas La Plana.
Prince Bonaparte, 80 Chepstow Road, W2 5BE (020 7313 9491/www.the-prince-bonaparte.co.uk) Notting Hill Gate or Royal Oak tube.