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Beer of the Week (w/e 15th June 2025) with Mobyduck
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Queens Head, Shoreditch, E1
E1
E1 6PJ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Strongers . left this review about Queens Head
The Queens Head is a big and long venue with high seating either side of the front entrance and up the right-hand wall opposite the serving counter up the left. More high tables are found at the rear end of the bar where steps ascend to a large open plan seating area. Premium and craft keg were available, but it took me a while to be served when there were more staff than customers. The toilets are located downstairs adjacent to the Perivale Bar which includes shuffleboard and the draught option of Asahi, although I think this area is for private hire. This place is fine for an afterwork drink, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit.
On 2nd January 2025
- rating: 6
[User has posted 6134 recommendations about 6100 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about Queens Head
This is a narrow but surprisingly deep pub on the main drag through Shoreditch, that was notably not as mobbed as other pubs nearby on a Saturday afternoon. The interior is split into two parts, with the main bar area to the front in a bare boarded space which sees the servery run down the left-hand wall. High banquette seating can be found opposite the bar, with stools in support whilst loads more high tables and stools fill the rear part of this room. The servery is quite basic, with a smart wood panelled counter and metal frame bar back, plus a small kitchen serving hatch further back. Lots of exposed brickwork and utilities cross the ceiling, whilst on the walls, TV screens can be found in all directions showing live football, including a large pull down screen to the rear which acted as a partitioning screen from the rear room. This space is accessed via a couple of steps and comprises a bare boarded room with timber clad walls to the left, exposed brick to the rear and an interesting wall to the right covered by beer barrel staves. Banquettes run around the rear and right walls with loads of basic tables and chairs through the centre. One more screen has been positioned back here showing the same muted match with a tidy soundtrack playing in the background. The walls throughout the pub are decorated with Queen-themed portraits, other monarchy related stuff and a rear wall of framed mirrors. Hot food is served and the pub was promoting shuffleboard tables, although I didn't see anyone playing, so I'm not sure where these are located.
There's no cask ale to be found here, but the keg range included beers from Two Tribes, Beavertown, Siren and others. I tried the reliable Signature Brew Backstage IPA, which was fine, but not the cheapest at £6.90 a pint. The pub was considerably quieter than others nearby, seemingly getting skipped by the large groups crawling Shoreditch, but there was still a nice enough atmosphere and the place did fill a bit more over the course of my stay.
Drinking in this part of town can be a bit hit and miss at best, but I thought this place was pretty decent in the grand scheme of things. The keg range helped to make up for the lack of cask ale and I liked the two room layout, which provides different types of room to suit different customers. It's not a destination pub by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly out performs a lot of venues in this part of town and is a reasonable bet if you can't get down to the better pubs near Liverpool Street.
Date of visit - 7th September 2024
Original review as Goose Island - 2nd Jan 2020. Rated 7
This is a nicely presented, modern brewpub from Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery, handily located close to Shoreditch High Street station. You enter to a long, main bar area with scruffy floorboards to the front and a bare concrete floor further into the room. The bar runs down the left-hand side and has a nice glazed tile counter front with a solid wood top and a tidy bar back notable for the two large conditioning tanks suspended above it. Seating is almost exclusively in the form of high tables and stools alongside aged brick wall to the right with several large arch-shaped windows along its length. The rear left wall, just beyond the end of the bar, has been covered in colourful flyers for various gigs and events around Chicago, although they all looked fake to me, so might just be marketing gimmicks. Next to this, a small hatch allows you to peek into the kitchen and on the rear wall there is a DJ booth in front of a chain curtain which bears the brewery’s logo and the area around it looked like it might possibly double up as a stage for live music. Steps to the rear left lead up into a rear room which has the feel of a dining area or perhaps a small function room, furnished with long tables and many chairs. The in-house brew plant is visible to the rear of this room. A loud, quite funky soundtrack was playing throughout my visit and the noise from the post-work crowd did its best to drown the music out. Upon leaving, I was a little surprised to find doormen operating a ‘one-in, one-out’ policy, as the bar didn’t seem to be especially crowded.
I counted twelve keg taps here which dispensed two beers from the core Goose Island range plus ten from the in-house brewery, with a further Goose Island brew available from a barrel on the bar back. I was rather surprised to find two handpulls on the bar which offered a choice of Thornbridge Peveril and Marble Manchester Bitter. I took a bit of a punt on the latter, unsure as to how much turnover the cask ales get in here, but was pleased to find it was in good nick and a lot cheaper than many of the keg options.
I thought this seemed like a pretty good place for Goose Island to showcase their beer and an interesting project for them to brew a few experimental recipes in the onsite plant. The presence of a couple of handpulls was also a big plus point for me and I would say this is one of the better craft beer bars in the Shoreditch area.
On 26th December 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3361 recommendations about 3361 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Goose Island
The Goose Island Brewpub is situated a few doors up from the Crown & Shuttle. I have always thought of Goose Island as being all about craft beers. But lo and behold, they actually had a couple of cask ales on - Goose Best & Siren Broken Dreams.
Of the two guys behind the bar, one seemed fairly disinterested, whilst another was somewhat more helpful. But it wasn't too long before I was served.
Seating is on bench seating, stretching back to brewing equipment at the rear. The bar is on the left-hand side near the entrance. I sat at one of the vacant tables near the entrance, but soon realised why those nearest the entrance were free. The wide open front doors were creating one hell of a draught and it wasn't the mildest of evenings.
As expected, the craft beer selection was much wider than the real ales - Goose Island Goose Today's Haze, Orange Line, Hex Nut Brown, Island Haze, Shoreditch Porter, Sour Cherry & Tonka Bean Porter, Restrictor & Barley Wine 2021, Beak Hi! & Pilot Philly Cherry Sour.
There was no sign of the doormen mentioned in the previous post on my Monday evening visit. Overall, I was suitably impressed by this place and may well be back if in the vicinity.
On 16th March 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3111 recommendations about 3109 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Goose Island
A modern brew pub with a rank of large high tables running most of the length of the righthand wall,which is fully exposed brick ,while the industrial ducting in the ceiling giving it a hip feel.The bar is to the left,while a small raised area at the rear has more traditional tables and chairs while a glass panel behind which sits the brew kit.A trip to the downstairs loo (worth inspecting) will show more brewing kit at this lower level.Muzak wasn't too loud,tables will be reserved but sensibly indicating the time when the table is booked.The food menu is mainly pizze and subs,there is also quite a long bottled list.
The bar has a 12 tap gantry with 10 from Goose Island,many at high ABV while two guest kegs were also carried.There are 4 handpumps offering their own Harvest MILD DH (doubled),a decent Buxton Downfall Ekuanot £5.25 with a further pump unclipped.
If you want to sample Goose Island keg beers with recipes from the US ,then this place will suit.I was expecting more options in real ale,so in future I may just pop in the see what's on,but would not aim for this pub as a destination for real ale.
On 1st June 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2971 recommendations about 2971 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Goose Island
Decent brew-pub, with a rectangular bar at the front and a small slightly raised seating / dining area at the back with the brew-plant behind a glass screen at the rear. Semi-modern furniture and decor (of the BrewDog variety) throughout. It looked like there were eight craft beers brewed on site, plus the regular and Midway IPAs, available from the keg taps, and two Siren guest ales - Liquid Mistress and Suspended in Olicana (£5.20) - being dispensed from the pair of handpumps at each end of the counter.
On 19th May 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8733 recommendations about 8733 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Goose Island
Smartly done up inside and out in 2018, a small fortune must have been lavished here. The interior decor is classic upmarket hipster post-industrial with stripped boards, brick walls crudely painted off-white with black stars and a load of old posters collaged. Of genuine interest is the rather fetching long curved bar featuring black and white lined tiling, as well as the brew kit at the rear. 'Merch' available but at 25 sheets for a tee and 40 for a hoodie you'd have to be a proper Shoreditch Trustafarian. Plenty of keg at the usual silly keg prices, especially so here given they brew a load of them a few feet away. However there are four cask taps, doubled up on my visit with Wild Beer Millionaire and Yeastie Boys Captain Planet which weighed in at a perhaps surprisingly OK £2.50 a half. It was excellently kept, NBSS 4. Fairly pleasant background music played on my stay. It's alright here, better than I was expecting, and certainly the ale quality helped.
On 1st April 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5589 recommendations about 5570 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Goose Island Brewpub
A modern American style bar with one long room, raised at the back with the brew kit right at the rear visible through glass partitioning, It looks as though the raised area possibly doubles up as a stage, there are indeed stage lights aimed at it though maybe just for show as I didn't see anything advertised. A range of Goose Island beers are available on tap along with a couple of guests, I tried one of these , Magic Rock Highwire Grapefruit edition, very nice but at £3.25 a half, not particularly cheap. All in all a decent place.
On 24th March 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2183 recommendations about 2150 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Goose Island Brewpub
Smart modern brewpub.Friendly knowledgable staff.As mentioned below loads of Goose Island kegs.I tried their mild and a whisky barrel aged both beers okay but the star of the show was Wylam -mocchiato 6.5 on cask.Superbly finished interior with the brewing kit on show and lovely toilets.
On 2nd February 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Goose Island Brewpub
This Shoreditch bar location has gone through a few incarnations in recent years and was formerly a bar known as The Traders Bar before becoming the Drunken Monkey for a few years. And then in October 2018 it opened as the Goose Island Brew Pub, the Chicago based American brewers first brew pub venture in the UK.
A long thin modern style bar with the serving area on the left as you enter and high wooden tabled seating to the right stretching down to further lower seating beyond the bar with the brewing equipment behind glass at the far end with a chalk board display indicating what they are brewing in it, which for my visit was something called Restrictor Plate IPA.
The bar has a nine-tap keg unit providing Goose Island brews and alongside the aforementioned Restrictor Plate IPA was their standard Goose IPA, 312 Urban Pale Ale and Four Star Pils amongst others. But then also a couple of cask ale pumps either side of this tap unit which had Siren Broken Dream Stout (lovely !) and Burning Sky Aurora on each pair.
Say what you will about Goose Island, one of the first American Craft brewers who lost the brewing community credibility when being bought by the global drinks giant InBev in 2011, but they still brew decent stuff that’s a lot better than Budweiser for example.
Food is available and you shouldn’t be surprised that this centers on Chicago style Pizza’s.
So, this is another good addition to the Shoreditch drinking scene as the craft beer revolution continues to change the drinking landscape. It’s a good comfortable bar but I’m not such a fan of Goose Island beers to be gagging to return to this one especially with an increasing number of other venues now showcasing London craft brewers.
On 21st December 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2245 recommendations about 2105 pubs]