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Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 14th September 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Manor Arms, Poplar, E14
E14
E14 0BP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 3½ of 10) see review guidelines
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Manor Arms
a street corner boozer with a fine floral display externally and a lot of British flags consistent with the mono culture of the customer base in very multi cultural Tower Hamlets.The left side is the public bar with lots of bar stools for the regulars,and a juke box churning out a Radio 2 diet.The flatscreens were off and no sign that they would screen subscription sport.Through an arch to the loos there is a curious little area ,probably a former snug which today has a single bar stool next to the small servery.The other room in the interior is to the right under a perspex awning ,an area which feels like a lounge with fitted bench seating in blue,and that colour is on the walls too.A UPVC door here gives access to a small beer terrace.
Karaoke and occasional live music happens at weekends,no doubt in this room,and the servery here is quite large.
Cash only and free of real ale,the multinational lager keg crap drove me to a pint of Guiness at a very reasonable £4.60 and properly poored in a branded glass. As Tris notes ,strangers stand out but the atmosphere is more defined by curiosity and a few of the old lags said good morning and warned me about the cash only.The pub serves it's market well,maybe not one for me to revisit however.
On 7th September 2025
- rating: 4
[User has posted 3014 recommendations about 3014 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Manor Arms
Dating from the mid-19th century though almost certainly rebuilt in the ‘30s, the Manor Arms sits alone and forlorn along the unloved East India Dock Road, in an area where once there would have been dozens of pubs in the immediate vicinity. The corner splay and multiple repetitions to frosted glass indicate that this was once a Watney Combe Reid pub; there’s also a discreet Charrington’s Toby jug motif to a window along Wades Place, whilst above the door, a plaque advertises the place as having live music and ‘BUM DADDY’s’, whatever that may be, though this isn’t a gay pub.
The interior holds no surprises: a small, two-room format with carpet, traditional furniture and grey paint. Customers were a resolutely older bunch of locals, almost all male and whilst in no way threatening, certainly suspicious of this out-of-town youth. Karaoke was in full swing on my recent Friday evening visit, of varying quality but certainly the middle-aged blonde women could carry a tune.
Unsurprisingly there’s no cask here, a half of Guinness costing just £2.30, served by an equally suspicious barmaid who I’d not wish to arm-wrestle.
This is a very basic pub for older locals, having a certain curiosity value, but if you want an old locals’ pub with much more to offer, keep on walking to the Festival Inn.
Rated 2.5.
On 12th November 2023
- rating: 3
[User has posted 2277 recommendations about 2227 pubs]