The Carpenters Arms, Shoreditch, E2

A classic street corner boozer once owned by Reggie and Ronnie,and with a small picture of the twins as a reminder.However no sign of any old lags these days,it's quite a hip vibe with a young serving team.You enter into the bar room with lots of wood panelling,long benches and traditional furniture.Chalk boards describe the craft beers,bottled beers,wine and a very decent looking food menu,including meat and cheese platters with around 6 mains between £9 -£14 together with bar snacks and escargots.There is a fireplace but just with a coal affect gas fire and art on the walls.Take a walk around the winding corridor to discover a small back lounge and a walled beer garden.It's all quite charming. At the bar the three handpumps were drawing Purity Mad Goose,TT Landlord and Adnams Mosaic Pale (in good nick,£4.50) .Although quite a mainstream choice of real ale ,the quality justifies its GBG listing. The 10 craft keg selection looked solid.The muzak was well chosen and was played at a sensible volume and I found this a relaxing place for a quality pint.

This is a good pub, much changed no doubt from its notorious past,normally three ales on and this time round I plumped for Project x ,a black IPA from Eagle Brewery(Trumans linked as far as I can make out) it was pretty good anyway. There is always a good vibe about this pub and I always try to include a visit when in the area.

Nicely described by the previous reviewer, I too found this to be a friendly and welcoming pub. Unfortunately my chum and I caught this pub at a wrong time, with all the tables in the main bar occupied by a large group of young people seemingly having a celebratory lunch. And a jolly good time they seemed to be having as well; on one level it's good to see a pub like this doing a healthy trade. So, we occupied the small room at the back of the pub, which leads out to a small pub garden. This pub was indeed owned by the Kray brothers back in the 60s, and I believe that it was run by their beloved mother. The only link that I saw to its previous owners was a cartoon depiction of the two brothers on one of the walls. There were three ales on - Timothy Taylor Landlord, Purity UBU, and Adnam's Tally Ho, which the pumpclip said was a seriously strong barley wine, although the ABV was not specified. Anyway, we both gave that one a swerve, opting for pints of the landlord and UBU, both of which were in good condition. There were chalkboards on the walls, one of which seemed to function as the menu, and advertised a good menu at what appeared to be reasonable prices. The Cottage Pie was £8.80; the Fisherman's Pie was £8.90; the beefburger with chips etc was £9.50; and the roast beef sandwich including chips was £6.90. I liked the feel of this pub. It's quite small, cramped even, but comfortable and homely nonetheless. Food pays a big part in this pub's business - like so many similar places these days - but three ales on in such a small place is good going. I would be happy to pay a return visit here.

A pub a bit off the beaten track in Cheshire street ,between Brick Lane and Vallance Road,however its always been reasonably lively on my visits.Has a mixed customer base leaning towards the 20/30 something trendy, but this gives the place a live buzz and yet laid back feel at the same time. On my last visit about 6 weeks ago the Adnams Oyster stout was excellent. A pub worth seeking out if in the area, one of my favorites.