The Palm Tree, Mile End, E3

A disappointing visit yesterday having arrived at about 12.50 lunchtime the only sign of life was a couple of staff/Landlady? chatting at an open side door,after inquiring if or not they were open we can open in a minute but you will have to have a drink outside for the time being.After lengthy discussion as to what was available or not we received three pints of Mighty Oak Snake in the Glass in plastic glasses,the beer wasn't an good condition and at £3.60 for a 3.5% beer we decided not to prolong our visit,and so left with out even stepping inside the pub. I have previously enjoyed my trips here and would rate it a good 7/10 but after yesterday it will now average 4/10, zero yesterday.

A short walk away from Mile End Tube Station and close to the Regents Canal is The Palm Tree, a splendidly traditional old fashioned East End local. Largely due to planning and demolition in the immediate area, the pub is oddly isolated, standing alone in the middle of a grassland park. It’s a former Trumans pub with the trademark tiled exterior and the eagle logo prominently positioned on a corner wall. The main bar of this two bar pub is carpeted and features striking gold flowery wallpaper, half height wood panelling and leaded frosted windows. Seating is basic benches and unusual round tables with cork tops. The curved semi circular wooden bar counter has a gantry which is decorated with photos of various singers and musicians who have performed here over the years. In one corner of the room is a small stage with several drums and there’s live music on weekend evenings. Note also the old manual cash still in use behind the bar. We find some surviving features of its former Truman days – a Trumans mirror and the trademark black and white chequered spittoon around the bar. A larger bar with a separate entrance appears to be the favoured location of the regulars. Here there’s a rarely seen London 5’s dartboard and a collection of boxing photographs, including one signed by Billy Walker addressed to “Alf and Val”. The surviving features of this 1930’s pub merit a listing in CAMRA’s book of London Heritage Pubs. There’s usually 2 or 3 real ales on. Pleasingly, these are invariably interesting selections rather than the usual suspects such as London Pride and Greene King IPA. On my latest visit last week, beers on were Robinsons Enigma and Newmans Red Stag Bitter ( Caerphilly ). The latter was an enjoyable pint, but, with an ABV of only 3.6%, was rather pricey, I seem to recall. The pub is in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2012. There’s something of a time warp feel to the place - it’s a real collector’s item. Do make the effort to seek it out

I thought I was going to be disappointed when I arrived at this pub, having walked up from Bethnal Green tube and slithered my way across the park in the melting snow, as the first door I pushed was resoundly shut, and no light was showing, however I tried the corner door and it opened, but then the burglar alarm went off! Unsure what to do, I did nothing, then the landlady appeared. They were open, they just had the alarm on as they were upstairs as there were no customers mid afternoon on Monday. The inside of this excellent pub is a time warp, small round wooden tables with bench seating, plates on a high shelf, the wooden fronted bar has a pelmet over the gantry, and your cash (no cards here) goes into an old fashioned manual till. There is an old Trumans mirror on one wall. The shiny gold patterned wallpaper reflects a shimmering light from the windows, these are leaded with the green and amber banding indicating a previous Charrington's life, I assume after its Truman origins. The corner has a small stage, replete with drum kit and a bunch of dried hops above. There are jazz evenings on weekend nights when the pub stays open late. You won't disturb the neighbours here, there aren't any. Two beers on handpump, both rotate I believe, my visit had St Austell Tribute and Brains SA Gold, not cheap for the area at £3.60. Curious to have a look in the back room I asked if this was ok and despite my earlier inauspicious arrival the landlady was happy to unlock the door for me. I'm glad I looked, one wall is covered with old photos and drawings/caricatures of boxers, another has an impressive display of black and white photographs of East End life in years long gone. There's a high shelf groaning under the weight of numerous trophies, mostly darts related, and a cabinet revealed a London 5's dartboard, not something I have encountered previously, which has numbered sections of 5, 10, 15 and 20; The game counts down from 505. This is a fascinating little pub, well worth a visit and clearly in good hands, the current couple have been there for 35 years.

There are still two separate bars in this CAMRA inventory pub. As I walked up to the pub the door to the corner bar on the left was invitingly open, and never one to spurn an invitation like that in I went. This bar had two ales on handpump – Maldon Sherpa Tenzing and Warwickshire Beer Co’s. Darling Buds. The Tenzing was a really good and well kept pint, even though I have no idea why they would want to name an ale after one of the first men to conquer Everest at this time. This pub has all the appearance of an untouched inter-war pub, with the exterior still decorated with Truman’s trademark beige tiling, surmounted by the rampant black eagle. The interior of the corner bar was similarly largely untouched from its inter-war roots, with at least some of the furnishings looking to be of pre-war vintage. They must have live music on at times, judging by the small raised area on the left bearing a drum kit, and the signed photos of artists (none of whose names I recognised) above the bar counter; there was also a photograph of ol’ blue eyes himself, but sadly unsigned. They weren’t doing any food on the sunny and hot Saturday when I visited “because we are too busy today” although I surmised from this that they sometimes did so. I would have thought that being busy, which a pub like this on the Regents Canal would be, is a reason to maximise profits by offering food rather than a reason to not do it. I am guessing that the inability to have seating on the grassed area by the canal might be the reason, and if so it’s a great shame as I feel confident that they would have done a great trade. Anyway, I still greatly enjoyed my visit to this unspoilt East End pub. The ales they had on were from two of the smaller and lesser known breweries (in London anyway) and I would be delighted to pay a return visit.

Randomness Guide to London - Palm Tree entry

Randomness Guide to London - Palm Tree entry