The Queens Arms, Walthamstow, E17

Visited 20/04/26 Three hand pumps, one unclipped, one with the clip turned round and the other dispensing the blood orange infused SeaCider. Keg offering of Saint Monday West Coast IPA, Sierra Nevada pale ale, Double Diamond pale ale, Sapporo lager, Gosnells honey and ginger mead, Crafty Apple cider, Leffe blonde, Erdinger Weissbier, Estrella, Signature Brew Haze machine, Beamish Irish stout, Amstel, and Five Points JUPA. Corner venue with outside bench seating around the two external glass fronted sides. Inside it is bare boarded with the bar counter on the wall facing the entrance with some tall stool seating at the bar counter and regular tables along the left-hand side. There are some regular tables with small stools in the main floor space in front of the bar counter with a leather studded banquette to the right of the entrance and then along the right-hand wall all serving regular tables. The right-hand side of the venue beyond that edge of the bar counter provides regular tables and chairs, plus initially some facing Chesterfield sofas by an unused fire grate, to the outside seating area at the rear offering picnic style seating on a paved area. Thought this was a decent pub in Walthamstow Village, better if more of the hand pumps were utilised.

Upmarket gastro pub with a modernised, minimalist interior about five minutes from Walthamstow Central. The large front room features bare boards and a wide, U-shaped bar with an angular counter and a cut-out bar back forming a central island. Seating includes standard tables and chairs, with some padded banquettes along one wall and potted plants by the windows. To the rear right, the space extends into a more formal dining area, where Chesterfield sofas, dark painted walls, and bare brick are offset by fireplaces, mirrors, and scattered art prints. A pump clip display adds some character, but the lighting is quite stark and sound levels were high due to a lack of soft furnishings, drowning out the music playing quietly in the background. There was just the one cask ale on—Wylde Sky Gold—with Five Points Best having recently been taken off and one other pump left unclipped. The beer was in reasonable shape, but I didn’t notice anyone else drinking it and wonder if ale has started to become a bit of an afterthought here. I was a bit underwhelmed by this place, which I felt leant too heavily towards a foodie, middle-class clientele, at the expense of providing somewhere pleasant to just sit and enjoy a drink. I guess there are loads of pubs like this through the ever-gentrifying suburbs of the city, and whilst this one at least retained a cask option, I couldn’t really settle down and was happy to drink up and move elsewhere. Date of visit: 22nd March 2025

This is a mid-19th century pub, situated in the trendy epicentre of Walthamstow ‘Village’ that is Orford Road; you know an area has arrived when it acquires a branch of Gail’s. There’s certainly food here and when I first started visiting friends in the ‘stow back in the late ‘90s, if you went to a pub and asked for burrata with tomato granita & pesto, you’d have got punched in the face. The place has been heftily made over, with a scruffy and notably undulating bare boarded floor, plain white walls with black reveals; the only item of décor was the plethora of pump clips fixed to an upper wall and above the bar. The rear – which may be a dining area – features bare brick and eclectic prints. Furniture includes dark blue studded peripheral banquettes, then conventional round tables and upholstered stools, all to Pink Floyd’s Money at quite some volume; customers were young professional types, many quite shrill. Despite the promises alluded to by the pump clips, at the time of my Saturday visit at just gone 10.00pm, there was an unused pump then just Pillars Cold Porter and Proper Job, £2.60 a half, served by an old-school landlady and in good shape. This place isn’t bad but it’s a little stark, underperforms on the ale front and with the massed ranks of highchairs, offers the kind of child-based entertainment you thankfully won’t find at the neighbouring Nags Head.

Official site of The Queens Arms - www.queensarms-e17.co.uk

Official site of The Queens Arms - www.queensarms-e17.co.uk

The Queens Arms is a corner pub that is situated in the posh part of Walthamstow. Once inside there is a single U shaped room with the bar facing,the floor is bare boarded as you might expect in a gastro type pub,the seating is a mix of bench type and normal tables and chairs. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Trumans Swift which went down well,the other beers were Summerskills Westward Ho and Redemption Hotspur. Fairly loud background music was playing on our Saturday dinner visit. I was happy enough having a drink in this pub. Oub visited 21/3/2015

Another gastro makeover in Walthamstow Village,the vast plate glass windows make you feel very much on display if seated by the bar,but that's the modern vogue.There is a significant dining area as you go back through the building and it was certainly busy at Saturday lunchtime .Wooden floors complete the modern vibe.Three real ales were on during our brief visit,Sumerskills Westward Ho! (fine),Redemption Hotspur and Truman Swift served by default in dimple mugs,it might have been better if the option of a straight was made before pouring.I noticed a lot of craft keg taps ,so drinking in the front part of the pub is probably the norm. Call in if crawling the area,not enough pub atmosphere for me to consider a longer session.

This pub has undergone a refurbishment since the last reviewer's visit. It's no longer the sports bar that it apparently was – it’s now been thoroughly “modernised”, and looks for all the world like a gastropub, but I didn’t see any meus when I was in there at Wednesday lunchtime. The exterior is now painted a pastel shade, although it may be an undercoat as some more work is definitely needed on the signage, which is conspicuous by its absence. The ale situation has looked up considerably though. They had on Woodforde Wherry; GKIPA; Old Hooky; and Otter Ale (£1.80 a half and served in a dimpled jug). Old Rosie cider was on pump as well. The interior still smells of paint, but obviously that will pass, and didn’t bother me. The floor’s bare-boarded of course, with battleship grey predominating the colour scheme and the decor’s typically minimalist. The main bar area at the front is furnished with normal tables and chairs, but an area to the back and right of the bar counter has some sofas, and exposed brick walls. Many (but not all) of the tables were laid for diners, which is the only indication that I got that food was available. Why have tables laid with cutlery etc if you don’t do food? It all looked very gastro. The pub is bare and minimalist, but obviously intended to look chic. A lot of people seem to like these sorts of places, and good luck to them, but it’s not much like a traditional pub now.