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Huge news. The Gun is re-opening later this month.
The much-loved Well Street pub closed down at the start of 2025, but the stalwart of Hackney’s eating and drinking scene will reopen on February 23.
Under new ownership, the pub says: ‘Come for the Guinness. Stay for the wagyu.’ Hot Dinners reports that the man behind the relaunched boozer is Kotaro Ogawa of Mayfair’s fine dining Japanese steakhouse Aragawa.
That should mean that the pub, which has hosted several kitchen residencies over the years, such as the inimitable Ling Ling’s and Rake (which is now at The Gun’s former sister pub, The Compton Arms), will still be serving up serious food.
However, The Gun’s history as a rave pub, hosting DJs like Daniel Avery and Marie Davidson in its intimate 90-capacity space, might all be in the past.
The Gun was forced to close its doors in March 2025 due to the ‘increasing costs of running a hospitality business in the current financial climate’. Nick Stephens, Hanna Sinclair-Stephens and Oliver Dixon opened the pub in June 2014, breathing new life into the building by polishing up its original Victorian features. The venue was saved from closure in 2020 thanks to a crowd funding campaign during the pandemic, which raised more than £30,000 in one day. The team still run Islington’s The Compton Arms.
The best pubs in London, according to Time Out.
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