Bricklayers Arms, EC2

Well described below, this is a somewhat barren largely décor-free destination with a gloomy interior, red lamps and woodwork painted pillar box red. There's a small patio at rear which is just about good enough for a fag but little else. The lavs are tiny, painted red of course, with a rather awful display of street-style graffiti, a theme which runs through the pub as the windows to he fag patio are also covered with graffiti. Presumably this is aimed at giving the place some 'street cred'. Music played which was really a bit too loud. Ales: Upham's Punter, St. Austell's Tribute, Deuchar's IPA, Fuller's London Pride and Darkstar's Hophead which was a bit lifeless and at £2.40 a half made me wince. This is a bit of a grunge hole and I certainly won't be returning, not least because the charming Barley Mow is 30 yards away.

On the face of it there’s a reasonable ale selection here, with London Pride, GK Abbot, Deuchar’s IPA, St Austell Tribute, and Box Steam Brewery Tunnel vision on when I dropped in at Wednesday lunchtime. One chap at the bar had a used plate in front of him, so I guess they must do food, although I didn’t see any menus anywhere. I didn’t see anything of any great interest inside, except perhaps the antique radio, and some other old drink bottle or something like that on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. There was no decor worth mentioning. The place is bare-boarded, with walls and bar counter painted bright red, and furnished with plastic upholstered settles, small stools and solid wooden tables. There was music being played far too loudly for my taste – not too bad when it was Frank Sinatra, but uncomfortable when it moved on to thumping pop music. My half of Tunnel Vision was in good shape, but somewhat overpriced at £2.20 I thought. I’m not likely to visit again.

Bricklayers Arms official site - bricklayersarm.com

Bricklayers Arms official site - bricklayersarm.com

The Bricklayers is a decent looking corner pub in Hoxton and it has the prices to match. Once inside the pub was fairly small and there were three real ales on the bar i had a drink of London Pride and this was a decent enough drink the other beers were Theakston best and Deuchars IPA. The pub was fairly quiet on my Thursday afternoon visit. Pub visited 21/8/2008