The Lord Napier & Star, Hackney Wick, E9

Tris C left this review about The Lord Napier & Star

Date visited: 9th September 2021:

Situated in a part of E9 that’s actually in Tower Hamlets rather than Hackney, this closed in 1995, was boarded up and squatted, only to reopen a few weeks ago in an area which is unrecognisable from that which I visited in 2011 to photograph this pub. Then, all there was here were industrial units or tyre and exhaust centres, where once there would have been Victorian housing. Now, it’s home to swanky flats, some with concierges, resulting in the opening of hospitality outlets to take advantage of the incomers.
The pub was known for its frequently changing graffiti schemes. This format has been retained to the upper floors, but the ground floor now has exposed glazed green tiles, which may be original. What is original is the name in raised lettering to the fascia in period Ind Coope typeface, but minus the ‘and Star’ name, for this is part of the ‘Star of…’ or ‘…and Star’ chain.
To say that much has changed from the original is a true understatement and in some respects, this reminds me of the Spitalfields Gun, except that this place hasn’t been demolished; no obvious trace of the original remains though. The interior is very opened out with a broadly central bar, sporting much steampunk copper plumbing work for beer dispensing. The bar is wood field panelled with a thick polished concrete top with a functional structure except at the top, there’s glass infill in faux Victorian script, reading ‘The Lord Napier. From S*ithouse to Public House’; it has a patterned tiled bar apron; the floor is modern herringbone parquet and although the ceiling is white, the walls exhibit a colour scheme best described on the Pantone colour chart as 7736 UP. This contrasts with the semi-freestanding metal orange staircase up to a first-floor room and roof terrace. Furniture is largely contemporary and lighting is adequate, coming mainly from long flexed white opaque spherical lamps. There’s not much in the way of décor, apart from a few pot plants and a weird painting above a pale wood reclaimed fireplace, resulting in very poor acoustics making for noisy surroundings, contributed to by a loudish soundtrack from Ponzu Island. There were no obvious signs of TVs but a projector was noticed, though given that England were playing, there’s clearly no enthusiasm for showing sport; perhaps it’s for PowerPoint presentations, given the nature of the young, fashionable crowd here, who probably work in marketing.
Two real ales were spotted, both reassuringly local with a reversed Five Points clip, then ELB’s Dragon, spotted after I’d ordered my pint of Goose Island IPA (£6.00), served by efficient staff.
This place will probably do very well given the huge changes to the location, especially that it operates a disco until 1.30 am on Friday and Saturday, but it’s an absolute trek to get here (unless by rail to neighbouring Hackney Wick station) and it’s really not my thing, at least not any more, so I doubt I’ll return, but hats off to the operator for reopening it though; I bet the old lavs weren’t this swanky.

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A return visit a few days ago and the once swanky lavs are now a bit squalid: stickers/grafitti, cracked tiles and the paper dispenser ripped from the wall. Cask (if it was actually on) amounted to a reversed Five Points clip then one unused; overall, the atmosphere in here has become a bit old-school East End, i.e. not a selling point.
I won't return again, the score reduced accordingly.

On 21^st April 2026 - rating: 3
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