Ye Olde Rose & Crown, Walthamstow, E17

Visited 20/04/26 Cask was a set of six hand pumps. One was unclipped, the others providing London Pride, Jarl from Fyne Ales, DB One Best from Dorking Brewery, the Monochromatic stout from Queer Brewing and the Lunebrew a blonde from Spinning Jenny. Another hand pump on the other side of the bar counter provided Pomona's Delight a Perry from Luke's Cider (think their local taproom closed recently). Keg offering of Heineken, Fosters, Moretti, Crafty Apple cider, Guinness, Cruz, the DDH pale intriguingly named A Little Mouse With Crocs On from Pretty Decent, Neck Oil, Virtuous Session IPA from Kirkstall, the Pilsner and the original Pale from local brewery Pillars and the Superfly West Coast IPA from Hackney Church Brew Co (first time I have seen one of theirs at an away venue). This is a proper old school pub, bare boarded and U-shaped with a very truncated left-hand side and a very long right-hand side to make up for that truncation. The bar counter follows the inside shape of the venue. Seating on the longer right-hand side via a variety of dark wood furniture, a bit cafe style, some leather studded sofas and small church pew style benches and some balustrades to divide off some of the areas. There is a slightly raised carpeted area along the glass frontage with regular tables and chairs and an offshoot carpeted area in the front right-hand corner with a fitted wooden bench along the right-hand wall serving regular tables, split either side of a fire grate. Seating on the left-hand shorter side is via a similar fitted wooden bench around the window side wall also serving regular table. Some half height dark wood screens divide up the venue in places to make this a very cosy interior. There is some colourful leaded glass around the top part of the front and left-hand side windows and abbey style suspended metallic ceiling lighting. An attractive mosaic of the pub name and insignia on the floor outside the gent’s entrance! No TV screens and a decent music soundtrack on my visit. There is a small amount of picnic style seating at the side of the venue. This is a top venue, early days for me in E17 but amazed if I find an equal or better venue in this postcode area.

The Rose & Crown as was, dates from the mid-19th century on Greenleaf Lane (presumably now neighbouring Greenleaf Road), rebuilt on amusingly named Hoe Street, the ‘Ye’ and ‘Olde’ affectations dating all the way back to around 2008. Slightly tatty, this is a large, high ceilinged place on split levels, very woody with t ‘n’ g partitions, some with etched glass infill and white paintwork; a raised balustraded area to the right, home to live music, a great swing time band playing at the time of my Thursday 9.45pm visit; there’s a theatre, where on 2nd November, you can see a production of Fractal Bumhole; the RSC this isn’t. The floor is either bare boarded or carpeted, structural columns are red, décor taking the form of some unobtrusive trendy prints, then CAMRA citations for POTY, Community POTY, Cider POTY and East London POTY. Customers were a complete slice of local society, the venue clearly a social hub for cask drinkers, theatregoers and live music aficionados; there are no TVs here. Cask wasn’t as extensive as hoped, with two unused pumps then Purity Gold, Byker Two by Two and Adnams/DEYA Red Ale, £6.50 a pint (though 6%), served by a friendly barman, ensuring an unprompted top-up and nice it was too. This is a decent cask pub which certainly offers something different, the best boozer in E17, which along with the Nags Head should give paws for thought. Rated 7.5.

Facebook page of Ye Olde Rose & Crown - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Ye Olde Rose & Crown - www.facebook.com

A good traditional theatre pub unfortunately surrounded in scaffolding on my visit so no external photo from me, It wasn't open at three minutes past its alloted opening time of noon and I feared it was may shut for building work, I returned half an hour later with a positive result. The lovely Victorian is now well lived in but gives it a certain character. The five cask beers on were ELB Pale Ale, Redemption Hopspur,Bexley Redhouse, Ilkley Josua Jane and Attic Freya. Certainly the best pub in this bit of Wandsworth.

An excellent old Victorian pub with considerable character, incorporating a theatre and music venue, lovely high ceilings, traditional furnishings and understated decor. Perhaps getting a bit tatty round the edges but that just adds to the feel of the place. 4 of the 6 handpumps were in use with Five Points Derailed Porter, Redemption Big Chief and Hopspur, and ELB Pale Ale. Worth the walk from the end of the Victoria Line.