North Star, Leytonstone, E11

There were four ales on in here - Oakham Dragon; Timothy Taylor Landlord; Castle Rock Pale; and ELB Foundation. A couple of further handpumps had Butcombe Bitter and Oakham JHB clips reversed. I didn't see any sign of food when we visited at around 5.0 PM on a Wednesday, but I gather that they do Thai food in the evenings, and at weekends. This is still a two-room pub, both with their own door to the street - public bar on the left, and saloon bar on the right. The two rooms are now joined by an access that has been cut at the back of the servery. This is still a traditional pub. There seems to be more seating in the old public bar area, with mainly vertical drinkers in the saloon bar when we visited. I love these old traditional pubs, and especially so when they good real ale as this one does. I can see me visiting this one again sometime.

This is a former Bass Charrington House. The large East London Pub Company mirror at the rear of the right hand saloon bar is a reminder of the company that was formed after the Beer Orders and before they were (presumably) taken over by Enterprise. As noted below it has just about retained the two bars, a rarity in itself in London. Their are wooden floors throughout and the public bar just has a small serving hatch. There is a dart board and a jukebox. The saloon bar TV was off and I couldn't see any other screens in the public bar. There are now six hand pumps which had TT Landlord, St Austell Proper Job, Oakham JHB, ELB Foundation Bitter, Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild and Southwark Harvard APA. I went for the Southwark beer (£4.00) which is expensive but it is a 5.5% beer. This place left the GBG but seems to be reinstated now. It's well worth a look and gets a strong 7.

Tucked away just off the main drag. Nice traditional interior that hasn't been mucked about. Central double sided bar served the 2 sections.

Located down an attractive back street, just off of Leytonstone's busy High Street, the North Star is a simple two bar traditional pub. The saloon bar is on the right hand side and is clearly signposted by a nice etched glass window in the front door. The room is very basic, with a worn old carpet, one table and a drinking shelf with high stools opposite the bar. There are a lot of photos on the walls, mostly black and white pictures of the surrounding area as well as several depicting old trains. A large plasma screen TV hangs on the back wall but this was switched off during my stay in favour of a classic rock soundtrack that played quietly in the background. The second bar appears to be a little wider, allowing for more tables and chairs and even a sofa under the front window, as well as a dartboard on one of the walls. This room was in darkness when I arrived, but as the after-work crowd began to file in, the barman opened it up. This pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide and accordingly had four somewhat mainstream ales to choose from - St Austell Tribute (£3.10), Wells Bombardier, Sharp's Doom Bar and Adnams Broadside. My pint of Tribute was fine and it was served by a fairly cheerful barman. This is a fairly solid community local, if not really a destination pub. It would make a worthy addition to any crawl but there are other pubs nearby that are more essential.

Randomness Guide to London - North Star entry

Randomness Guide to London - North Star entry