Bars & Pubs

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: 0.1 mls

Water Poet

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

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

Distance: 0.1 mls

Drunken Monkey

Some of the Chinese theming at this dim sum destination is a bit hokey and the music can be ear-splittingly loud, but this is a great bar - which means it's seriously...

Shoreditch: 222 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6PJ

Distance: 0.1 mls

Light Bar & Restaurant

Light manages the unusual trick of being a damn sight groovier when it's quiet and you can savour the hip grandeur of its cavernous main room, exposed brickwork...

Shoreditch: 233 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6PJ

Distance: 0.1 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: 0.1 mls

Boundary Rooftop

Roof terrace quaffing

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

Distance: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.2 mls

Corney & Barrow

City: 5 Exchange Square, EC2A 2EH

Distance: 0.2 mls

Davy's at Exchange Square

City: 2 Exchange Square, EC2A 2EH

Distance: 0.2 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: 0.2 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: 0.3 mls

Grapeshots (branch of Davy's)

Whitechapel: 2-3 Artillery Passage, E1 7LJ

Distance: 0.3 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: 0.3 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: 0.3 mls

Book Club

Creative cafe-club in Shoreditch

Shoreditch: 100 Leonard St, EC2A 4RH

Distance: 0.3 mls

Hoxton Pony

Just another so-so ShoHo bar?

Shoreditch: 104-108 Curtain Rd, EC2A 3AH

Distance: 0.3 mls

Cantaloupe

One of the Shoreditch originals, Cantaloupe has long since eased into a comfy chair to let the young guns tire themselves out at the cutting edge. It simply carries on...

Shoreditch: 35-42 Charlotte Road, EC2A 3PD

Distance: 0.3 mls

Bar Kick

A big square room with a bar on the right, open kitchen straight ahead, flags of all nations tacked to the ceiling and, yes, rarely unemployed foosball tables under...

Shoreditch: 127 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE

Distance: 0.3 mls

Callooh Callay

Quirky Carroll-inspired cocktail bar

Shoreditch: 65 Rivington St, EC2A 3AY

Distance: 0.3 mls

Cargo

While much of Shoreditch concerns itself with how you look while you're dancing, Cargo's only concern is what you're dancing to. Tinkering for tinkering's sake is out;...

Shoreditch: 83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY

Distance: 0.3 mls

Great Eastern

This broodingly handsome Will Ricker bar-restaurant serves high-end cocktails and exquisite dim sum bar snacks (four cubes of crispy pork belly with black vinegar,...

Hoxton: 54-56 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3QR

Distance: 0.3 mls

Three Blind Mice

Renamed after an album by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, this basement bar was previously called Smersh. But if the owners are redecorating, it's clearly a work in...

Shoreditch: 5 Ravey Street, EC2A 4QW

Distance: 0.3 mls