Palm Tree

Surrounded by grassy park knolls in the shadow of luxury tower blocks and rather less salubrious East End estates, The Palm Tree is split into two separate bars and decked out in crimson drapes, dark swirly wallpaper and the kind of electric fire your nan used to have; it's a bordello-cum-boozer with a touch of the Moulin Rouge. With fidelity to tradition, there are still ashtrays on the bar.

There are Adnams and Jennings Golden Host on rotating hand-pulls and lesser-spotted 25cl bottles of Whitbread Pale Ale lurk behind the bar. Top-quality crooning and live jazz draw in crowds from Friday to Sunday, while on other nights punters can bring in their own music to play - as long as it's jazz or, at a push, soul. The clientele ranges from older locals in for a chat and a choon to dedicated young followers of postmodern irony, taken with the environs.
Ben McFarland. Photography Will Robson-Scott

Time Out Issue 1964: April 10-16 2008

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