Bars & Pubs

Rhythm Factory

During the day this east London institution is a quiet place filled with high chairs, good coffee, Thai food and continental vibes. By night, however, myriad club...

Whitechapel: 16-18 Whitechapel Road, E1 1EW

Distance: 0.5 mls

Carpenter's Arms

This was once a right naughty little boozer deep in East End gangsterland. It was bought by the Kray twins in 1967 for their dear old mum, Violet. Used as a safe spot...

Bethnal Green: 73 Cheshire Street, E2 6EG

Distance: 0.5 mls

L'Oasis

Fronting on the Mile End Road, L'Oasis doesn't quite feel like part of the city. The bar is in a single rectangular room, with benches (now padded) and upholstered...

Mile End: 237 Mile End Road, E1 4AA

Distance: 0.5 mls

Pride of Spitalfields

Tucked down a side street, the Pride steadily walks its time-honoured path, treating decks and the £20 pub roast as figments of a fetid imagination. Excellently kept...

Brick Lane: 3 Heneage Street, E1 5LJ

Distance: 0.6 mls

Bethnal Green Working Men's Club

Tucked down a Bethnal Green side street, this East End working men's club has been responsible for the whole burlesque and variety show explosion. It might look like...

Bethnal Green: 42 Pollard Row, E2 6NB

Distance: 0.6 mls

Exit

'Mark Plays Good House Music' said the sandwich board outside - and indeed he did. This tiny venue on Brick Lane follows the DJ bar template to the letter: front...

Brick Lane: 174 Brick Lane, E1 6RU

Distance: 0.6 mls

93 Feet East

There's plenty to be grateful for here, with a great courtyard that wraps right around the back, a large balcony terrace, a 'Pink' bar crammed full of welcoming sofas,...

Shoreditch: 150 Brick Lane, E1 6QL

Distance: 0.7 mls

Big Chill Bar

The Big Chill dishes up drinks and dance music in a setting relaxed enough to take in all-comers, from straggly kids to grey-haired know-betters. A bull's head with...

Brick Lane: Old Truman Brewery, off Brick Lane, E1 6QL

Distance: 0.7 mls

Café 1001

Laid-back, bohemian and artfully shambolic, Café 1001 has been dishing up breakfasts, coffees and experimental beats to E1's starving artists and hungover wastrels...

Brick Lane: 1 Dray Walk, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL

Distance: 0.7 mls

Vibe Bar

The vibe here is classic student party, especially when a band bring all their friends ('We're huge in Suffolk!' announced a wispy-haired singer, trying to flog copies...

Brick Lane: Old Truman Brewery, 91-95 Brick Lane, E1 6QL

Distance: 0.7 mls

Camel

The Camel is a low-key local favourite. Lovely plain brown exterior tiles, an etched Camel mirror and archive shots offer reminders of its past, while dark wallpaper...

Bethnal Green: 277 Globe Road, E2 0JD

Distance: 0.7 mls

Florist

The barmaid rather charmingly refused to make us a martini on our most recent visit to the Florist because she didn't know how - a sign things are now a little less...

Bethnal Green: 255 Globe Road, E2 0JD

Distance: 0.7 mls

Gramaphone

This cavernous bar-club is owned by the same people as the Rhythm Factory on Whitechapel Road, which explains the quality of the nights put on in the ground-floor room...

Shoreditch: 60-62 Commercial Street, E1 6LT

Distance: 0.7 mls

Ten Bells

The Ten Bells' location, between Liverpool Street and Brick Lane, and dishevelled scruff-bag charm ensures it's packed to within an inch of its life with fashionable...

Shoreditch: 84 Commercial Street, E1 6LY

Distance: 0.7 mls

The Golden Heart

Landlady Sandra Esqulant has been the hand on the pump at this classic east London boozer for 30 years, and if it's gained a reputation in the last ten or so of them...

City: 110 Commercial Street, E1 6LZ

Distance: 0.7 mls

Redchurch

This little DJ bar has two advantages over fellow Underdog-owned venue Green & Red: later opening and surprisingly good beer, including Brooklyn and Anchor Steam...

Bethnal Green: 107 Redchurch Street, E2 7DL

Distance: 0.8 mls

Beach Blanket Babylon

Partner to the Notting Hill establishment of the same name, BBB east is well situated a stone's throw from both the swanky Loungelover bar and Les Trois Garçons...

Shoreditch: 19-23 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA

Distance: 0.8 mls

Green & Red

This Mexican bar/cantina - not themed as such but dressed in neatly appropriate bar shack distressed wood and generic Latin American propaganda posters - is an...

Shoreditch: 51 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA

Distance: 0.8 mls

Hawksmoor

NB In October 2009 head barman Nick Stangeway left Hawksmoor to work at Mark's Bar, Hix, in Soho. The review below relates only to the prior period when Strangeway was...

City: 157 Commercial Street, E1 6BJ

Distance: 0.8 mls

Unit 7

Part of the Cable Street Studios (an enormous warehouse full of small artists' and music studios and creative start-ups, a moment away from the Rotherhithe Tunnel),...

Wapping: Cable Studios, 566 Cable Street, E1W 3HB

Distance: 0.8 mls

Commercial Tavern

It's hard not to like the current incarnation of this landmark flatiron corner pub, with its inspired chaos of retro-eccentric decor and warm, inclusive atmosphere. It...

Shoreditch: 142 Commercial Street, E1 6NU

Distance: 0.8 mls

Loungelover

Owned by the same concern as the feted Les Trois Garçons restaurant around the corner, this famously louche cocktail lounge may have had some of its thunder stolen by...

Shoreditch: 1 Whitby Street, E1 6JU

Distance: 0.8 mls

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...

Bethnal Green: 47 Approach Road, E2 9LY

Distance: 0.9 mls

Pipeline

Scandic rock bar with a twist of irony

City: 94 Middlesex St, E1 7DA

Distance: 0.9 mls

Grapeshots (branch of Davy's)

Whitechapel: 2-3 Artillery Passage, E1 7LJ

Distance: 0.9 mls

Water Poet

A multi-tasking bar, restaurant and cool pool-parlour

Shoreditch: Water Poet, 9-11 Folgate St, E1 6BX

Distance: 0.9 mls

Royal Oak

Rammed to the gunwales with vintage-clad creatives, the Royal Oak wasn't performing as it might on our recent Saturday night visit. There's a handsome, oval, central...

Shoreditch: 73 Columbia Road, E2 7RG

Distance: 0.9 mls

Boundary Rooftop

Roof terrace quaffing

Shoreditch: 2-4 Boundary Street (entrance at 9 Redchurch St), E2 7DD

Distance: 0.9 mls

Prospect of Whitby

Located on the Thames foreshore and dating from the 1520s, this old boozer has its original flagstone floor and a wonderful pewter bar from where you'll be served...

Wapping: 57 Wapping Wall, E1W 3SH

Distance: 0.9 mls