The Speakeasy, Dalston, E8

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Pub SignMan left this review about The Speakeasy

This is a simple, single room bar directly over the road from Dalston Junction station. The room has a painted qconcrete floor, rough stone walls and a modern beam ceiling, which give the place quite a cosy, almost traditional feel, which sadly doesn’t ring true beyond your initial impression. There’s a servery which runs down the rear portion of the left hand wall and has a classic dark wood counter and surprisingly impressive backlit bar back. High tables and stools run down the right hand side whilst two rows of small tables served by basic chairs can be found through the centre and a long bench extends down the front part of the left hand wall. A large mirror on this side of the room acts as something of a visual centrepiece and helps give the illusion of a roomier space and next to it there is a very unusual and utterly pointless collection of window frames. The right hand wall is mainly decorated with enamel signs, although many of these are of the daft ‘amusing’ type that you can pick up by the dozen down the local market. A projector screen displayed the image of a roaring fire onto the back wall, which may have helped to warm a few impressionable folk up on this cold March evening, although others were content to make do with some of the pavement seating available down one side of the pub. Brunch and tapas style food is available as well as a few heartier options like pasta and burgers – the kitchen hatch can be seen at the far end of the bar. Pumping, energetic music was playing away, but despite being very clear, was not so loud as to impede conversation.
There’s no ale at the bar here, so I picked the Meantime Pale Ale from a selection that also included Ashai, Brahma, Strongbow and Stella. Unfortunately, the Pale Ale was priced at a ridiculous £5.95 a pint, so I wasn’t best pleased. The staff were at least very friendly and chatty, unlike their clientele, who appeared aloof and up themselves for the most part.
This is a trendy place that really has done the bare minimum to warrant the high prices it commands. Were it not for the friendly service and occasional interesting touch (the front door is an old red phone box for example), there would be virtually nothing here to make this stand out from the crowd. They clearly have an inflated sense of their own self worth and are best left to the undiscerning hipster-types who love to lap up this sort of drivel.

On 1^st July 2019 - rating: 3
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