The Eleanor Arms, E3

Arrived 20 minutes early yesterday opens at 12.00 (4.00 on a Monday)so handily there is a cafe a door away,time for a cup of tea before the days activity's.The exterior of the pub was getting a lick of paint so not as dull and foreboding as experienced by John Bonser in the previous post,he is of course completely correct in his description of the interior,a very nice traditional pub.Rather quiet at the early hour which given the location is probably,I would imagine,the daytime normal state of affairs.Low level country/blues music was playing, but no sign of flashing lights on the ceiling thankfully.Three Shep's beers on ,Kent's Best,Bishops Finger and Canterbury Jack,the Kent's Best was in Excellent condition,a sign of a good pub as it was the first pint poured of the day.A very good pub a must visit when in this neck of the woods.

Relatively difficult to find, The Eleanor Arms is situated in a quiet street quite close to Victoria Park. It dates back to 1879. The pub sign features a rather sad looking woman, presumably one of the impecunious East Enders who was assisted by the Mothers Arms clinic and crèche, which the pub was for a while during World War 1. A rather dull and foreboding exterior hides an attractive traditional, carpeted wood panelled interior. Of particular note is a fine fireplace over which is a large Watney Combe Reid Stag Brewery mirror. Seating consists of traditional tables and chairs with bar stools running along the length of the bar counter. The walls are decorated with some old film posters and adverts. Just inside the front door is a small disc jockey style booth where, on my visit, the landlord was playing music from an extensive looking disc collection. This was, unfortunately, accompanied by flashing coloured lights projected on to the ceiling, all of which appeared to be for the benefit of a small birthday party group, for whom an appetising looking cold buffet had been prepared. A narrow passageway runs alongside the bar counter and leads to a smaller plainer, rear room where there’s a snooker table. Here a door leads out to a small garden at the back. The landlord is evidently a beer enthusiast and, although it’s a Shepherd Neame house, there’s usually a couple of interesting guests on. On my recent visit, there was only one Sheps beer on – Bishops Finger – but compensation existed in the form of Brains SA and Thwaites Wainwright. The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular and advertises regularly in London Drinker. This is a friendly and welcoming community orientated pub – worth looking out

This is a lovely old traditional Shepherd Neame pub, close to Victoria Park, but still requiring a bit of effort to locate in what appears to be a fairly quiet part of Bow. The pub is split into two areas by the attractive central bar, with dark wood walls, tables and chairs throughout. The front room is carpeted with a lovely fireplace on the right hand wall, over which hangs an impressive Watney's mirror. The walls are decorated with an eclectic mix of art prints, some old LP covers and plenty of brewerania. A narrow strip runs past the bar and takes you to the rear room, which has plenty more seating and gives access to the beer garden. A jazz soundtrack was playing in the background on my Saturday, early-afternoon visit and there was a selection of papers available at the bar. Being a Shepherd Neame house, I was expecting to find only their beers available, so it was quite a surprise to see Hyde's Original (£3.20) on alongside Kent's Best and Canterbury Jack. There was only one other customer in on my visit and I was pleased to see the barmaid pulled beer through the lines before serving me what was presumably the first Hyde's of the day. I'm glad to report that the beer was in great shape as well. I walked past plenty of unappealing looking pubs on my way to and from this place. It seems that the Eleanor Arms is a bit of an oasis in an otherwise unpromising area and it is nice to find a pub that has been so well cared for in amongst a lot of pubs that have been neglected. I'd say this is worth making a bit of an effort to find and only regret not being able to get there when it was a bit busier.

Randomness Guide to London - Eleanor Arms entry

Randomness Guide to London - Eleanor Arms entry

This is a Shepherd Neame pub; they had on Whitstable Bay, Canterbury Jack and a seasonal special called July 4th. They don’t do Master Brew, but they usually have on Kent’s Best which happened to be off during my visit. I had the July 4th which was, predictably, a well-hopped US style IPA. I really enjoyed it – at £3.20 a pint not cheap, but you expect to pay a bit more for a specialist beer. I had a chat with the landlord, who was about to head off with a bunch of chums to the Greenwich Jazz & Beer Festival. He told me that Shepherd Neame had inherited a micro brewery that they had moved to their main brewery and is used for producing smaller volume specialist brews – hence the July 4th. Anyway, this is a comfortably furnished (i.e. normal tables and chairs) pub with friendly and welcoming service. The only negative side is that they don’t do food (at least not on the weekday lunchtime I was in there). Notwithstanding that, it gets my recommendation as a pub worth seeking out if you’re in the area.