Rusty Bike, Mile End, E3

This is basically a sports bar that does Thai food. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that for atmosphere it is best visited when there is sport on. Outside of these times its not that interesting a place. On emerging from Mile End tube station, it was my first port of call early afternoon, and the place was pretty dead with a couple of tables utilised inside and a couple of hardy souls sitting in the outside front patio area. No ales available here, but four sets of keg dispensers spaced out on the long bar top with four taps on each. Usual standard keg stuff with a couple of interesting options such as the aforementioned below Blue Moon, Cobra, E1 Brew Co IPA and something called Chieftain IPA from Franciscan Well Brewery which was decent enough when it had thawed out a bit. However when I passed it again later that day with about 30 minutes to go before the kick off of the England v Wales World Cup game the place was absolutely heaving, both inside and outside with an audible level of frivolity that was loud enough to drown out the traffic noise from the main road outside. Quite a young demographic and I guess CAMRA card carrying members were watching the game elsewhere.

This was a late Victorian pub, the current replacement arriving perhaps in the early ‘70s, shown as a Taylor Walker house by the late ‘80s. It’s your typical estate type flat roofed pub, with a patio out front overlooking the very noisy dual carriageway that is Mile End Road, with an interior which can be seen on the website: rough modern boarded floor, dark brown wainscoting, then walls of either white paint, bare brick or rough plaster with graffiti art for décor and lighting from recessed downlighters in a white ceiling; the bar’s plank fronted with a copper top and shiny white tiled bar back. Furniture is conventional or chunky wood and scaffold poles. Customers are very mixed, being traditional locals who are perhaps too young for the Wentworth, younger incomers and perhaps students. There’s no real ale here, just fizz, my half of Blue Moon coming in at £2.90 a half. There’s nothing here for the discerning pub goer or ale lover, both of which can be found a couple of minutes’ walk from here at the very fine Lord Tredegar, which is cheaper too.

Eclectic little place close to Mile End station, with the striking mural in the front patio area making the place stand out. The seating area by the entrance merges into the bar and kitchen housed in the main part of the building further back. Basic semi-modern furniture and mixed decor of no particular note. Just Doom Bar (£4.10) available from one of the pair of handpumps, but as I wasn't counting on finding any real ale that was still something.

They now serve a real ale in here - the ever present Doom Bar (£4.10 a pint), with a second handpump unclipped. The Doom Bar was in pretty good condition. Food here is Thai, and as is usual with pubs that do Thai food it is a separate operation from the bar - get drinks from the bar in the usual way, then order and pay for food from a bloke at the far end of the bar. The Thai Chicken Massaman curry I had was OK, at £8.95 a pop, which seemed to be the standard price for chicken stir fries or curries - prawn or lamb versions were a bit dearer. It's all modern in here. They have a spanking brand new bar counter with pine wood frontage and stainless steel top, with white tiles on the wall behind the servery. There's some exposed brickwork and loads of modern, bizarre and garish decor, largely featuring bicycles of course. There was some unnecessary rubbish pop music being played. I guess it would be called RnB nowadays, but of course is nothing like traditional RnB. There were a couple of sofas but mainly cheap looking normal tables and chairs. There is also a bit of seating in an enclosed area at the front. This place struck me as a fairly cold (literally and figuratively) place. Perhaps it would seem more welcoming with a few more punters in there in the evening, but I would have to say that the only reason for visiting is if you've got a hankering for some Thai food.

Official site of Rusty Bike - rustybike.pub

Official site of Rusty Bike - rustybike.pub