Not already a member?
Join our community and - Rate & review pubs - Upload pictures - Add events JOIN for free NOW

Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat on the Pub Forum

Image posted by Tris C
Submitted on Sunday, 6^th June 2021
With picture contributions to 2351 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (13 more images)

Only members may add pictures, click to receive free membership

Detail Pages

Pub map
Pub reviews (4)
Pub pictures (14)
Page updates

Hand of Glory, E8

240 Amhurst Road
E8
E8 2BS

Phone: 02072497455

Correct details

Served areas

Hackney, Hackney Downs, Shacklewell

Tweets by Hand of Glory

Hand Of Glory We've got plenty of space for outside walk-ins tonight! Last orders at midnight. Come say hi! https://t.co/gJxlMLabQa 6:00 PM May 26th 2021 from Twitter Web App

View the full twitter feed for Hand Of Glory

Reviews of Hand of Glory (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Moby Duck left this review about Hand of Glory

Fairly unchanged from Tris's review below, I entered the pub early afternoon as the only customer and found probably the darkest (lighting-wise) pub I've ever been in the only natural light coming from the windows at the top end of the pub. I did wonder if it was actually open, It was and as mentioned below there was indeed a Wicker-man/Witchcraft vibe going on,the furniture and furnishings suitably rustic.
Two handpumps were both unused leaving a keg selection of entirely beers from Jaguarshoes.
I wondered how this pub turns a profit but then noticed half the tables were reserved for early evening, It seems the pagans only come out after dusk, I left before that happened.

On 13^th March 2025 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2151 recommendations about 2118 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Tris C left this review about Hand of Glory

Formerly the Amhurst Arms, as evinced by the last real trace of original history, a piece of etched glass to a small window on the north side. A bit scruffy in parts, this is an avowedly hipster pub in a rather out of the way hinterland, with nothing by way of competition for quite some distance. Its website describes the place thus: ‘Giant maypoles, wicker masks, brass icons, a straw bear and a ghostly mare; the cosy interior unites a collective of artists in a disquieting but colourful exhibition of British folk culture. Like The Wickerman sacrificing Bill Oddie to the gods of Countryfile, it celebrates pagan festivals, traditional iconography and folkloric customs from across the history of the British Isles. Hand of Glory is a seductive experience that re-explores the rich foundations of Cool Britannia’. Ho hum. The floor is bare boarded, walls and the ceiling are off white with some slate grey paint to other areas, furniture is mismatched with some items more distraught than distressed and hop bines abound. There’s a large display cabinet to a wall displaying old ammunition boxes, hopefully not sourced locally. There are some attractive wood support columns and the bar has pleasing field panelling, probably dating from the ‘50s. To the rear, there’s a sunken carpeted area with indoor picnic tables and on high, a glitter ball to accompany the DJ evenings when presumably music will be even louder than on normal nights. Lavatories are adequate and out back there’s a fag patio. Customers are young Hackney types and staff were friendly and efficient.
There was at least one pump clip visible in the gloom, reversed so only craft keg was available. I plumped for the Partizan Brewing’s IPA at a painful £6.10, paid for thankfully with contactless as the QR ordering code on the table didn’t work. It didn’t really taste like what I’d call an IPA, tasting almost like a citrus beer.
This place is just about ok, but the Pembury Arms is on the same street, sells real ale and for considerably less, so I doubt I’ll return.

On 28^th May 2021 - rating: 4
[User has posted 2207 recommendations about 2164 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about Hand of Glory

This is a fairly nice, but somewhat scruffy, Grade II listed pub that reopened in 2014 after a period operating as a restaurant. The pub was originally known as the Amhurst Arms, as evidenced by the nice etched glass panes on the side of the building. Nowadays, the place has decidedly hipster vibes, despite the retention of a variety of original features. You enter into the main bar area with tatty dark wood flooring throughout and the servery along the left-hand wall. The front left corner provides a compact seating area with several tables and chairs under plain walls decorated with various certificates and some random bits of artwork. Over to the right, ancient looking scratched and gouged tables are served by old school chairs plus a few pews further back and formed into booths opposite the bar. The servery has a square ended counter with a pillar at one end set-up to look like a Maypole, with lots of coloured ribbons attached to it, fanned out across the ceiling to create a striking and quite pleasing visual effect. The bar back is a simple dark wood affair, enlivened by some large tree branches which spread their way across the top of the bar back and beyond. Some sofa seating can be found to the rear of the room, past a hop-lined lintel where you can find a DJ area under a massive glitterball. A door leads out to a simple rear garden and there are plenty of picnic benches available outside the front of the pub along the pavement too. Perhaps the pub’s most striking feature is an enormous display case to the front right, full of old boxes of bullets and other such items of ammunition – a rather unique feature I thought. Each table had a jar on it, full of brightly coloured fresh flowers and there were some 80’s disco and funk tunes playing in the background, to which one of the barmen couldn’t help himself from dancing to.
Only the one cask ale – Five Points Pale – was available on this visit, with the other handpull out of action, but it was in good nick, which was sweet relief having been asked to fork out £5.70 for a pint of it. Dancing barman aside, the service was prompt if a little brusque and aside from a few punters catching the last rays of the day on the pavement outside, I was the only customer.
I had pretty mixed feeling about this place which had a number of interesting original features plus the highly unusual ammunition display but let itself down with an unkempt look and general feeling of neglect. The extortionate beer prices tipped this into the ‘no revisit’ category, but I wouldn’t want to discourage others from checking out the place and enjoying its merits.

On 28^th October 2019 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]

View more reviews of Hand of Glory (4)

External web links for Hand of Glory

Pubs Galore is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.