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Detail Pages
The Sebright Arms, Cambridge Heath, E2
E2
E2 9AG
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Sebright Arms
This is a surprisingly large backstreet pub with an opened out interior and a popular live music space. The pub has a large rectangular main room with the servery along the rear wall. The room is bare boarded and has plenty of dark wood panels, leaded windows with frosted and stained glass panes, and large mirrors on the walls, helping it to retain something of a traditional pub feel. A padded banquette runs along the front wall in the space opposite the bar, supplemented by plenty of chairs giving way to a lower space to far left with a jumble of tables, chairs and benches plus a high table to the rear with no stools. The bar has a nice dark wood counter, broken by a couple of pillars, beneath an attractive stained glass canopy with a rather disappointingly bland modern bar back. Cool retro light fittings provide muted lighting which created a nice warm feel on a dark evening. To the right rear is a small side room with a good amount of additional seating, although it’s a fairly plain space and a poor relation to the main bar area. A cool jazz soundtrack was playing in the background, whilst stairs to the left of the bar lead down to a very basic basement live music venue with a low stage and a few seating options.
I was a little frustrated to see six handpulls on the bar, all unclipped, leaving a choice between mainstream brands and a couple of craft keg options from Beavertown and Camden. I tried the Beavertown Gamma Ray, which was fine and as expensive as usual. I’d come here for a gig and found the staff painfully slow serving people during the peak period between bands, leading to long queues and a lot of people missing the start of the headliner’s set.
I really liked the simple, no frills basement room, which is a great place to catch some live music, but was a little less enthused about the pub itself, which has a pretty nice interior that has sadly been knocked around a lot, losing much of its character in the process - an issue compounded by the lack of cask ale and the pricey keg alternatives. I’ll be back, but I’ll find somewhere else for pre-gig beers next time.
On 25th July 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Sebright Arms
I came here once before with friends for a cabaret evening in the late 1990s. The main act consisted of an octogenarian male singing a dire rendition of the Woody Woodpecker Show theme! A bizarre evening for sure...
The pub dates back to at least 1826 but was rebuilt in 1936. It's quite large inside with a downstairs music venue and DJ paraphernalia in the ground floor bar. There's a slightly raised area with peripheral, upholstered banquette to the right side of the wood panelled room. The long bar is to the left with a quite attractive stained glass-fronted pot shelf. The floor is rough bare boarded, walls above the panelling are black and there's a white coffered ceiling with dentils. Lighting comprises some fairly standard modern hanging glass shades with illumination to the rear provided by a huge and distracting neon 'burger' sign. To the rear is another room, small and similarly panelled; furniture is wooden and basic. There's no obvious signs of décor apart from flyers advertising upcoming music events. Music played at an unobtrusive level but presumably this was so that it wouldn't clash with the football commentary coming from the TV to the rear room and projector screen in the main bar. As you'd expect in a live music/dive bar, the lavs are a bit scruffy. There were hardly any customers in here, but they were a mixed bunch.
It's card-only payment in here and on our visit, fizz-only as apart from the two unused pumps, all four of the others had clips reversed; my half of Camden's Pale came in at a wincing £2.90.
This isn't a great place by any stretch of the imagination and I imagine that it's predominantly geared towards the young, so don't envisage a return visit.
On 2nd October 2019
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Sebright Arms
A decent pub which was very busy on a Saturday evening giving the place a very good atmosphere on my visit,my beer of choice was Mondo Rider Pale Ale which was spot on.A pub well worthy of inclusion on a pub crawl,not open till 5.00pm though,a little odd on a Saturday.
On 8th December 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Sebright Arms
There were three ales on in here - Brick Brewery Peckham Coal Line Porter; Truman's Bold as Brass; and East London Brewery Gold (£2 a half), plus a couple of ciders and a perry on handpump. I expected this place to be a bit more gastro for some reason, but the sight of basic condiments (ketchup, mustard, etc) on the tables soon dispelled that idea. They obviously do food, but I didn't see a menu.
It's a surprisingly large pub, as the main room goes back a long way, and with another room opened up beyond the servery. The are just a couple of tall tables/tall stools near the door, but the vast majority of furnishings are banquettes and normal tables and chairs. On the heritage front, it still has its green banded glazing in the windows, suggesting that it was hitherto a Charrington pub. There is also some nice wood panelling on the walls. A few picnic benches can be found outside in the alleyway running along the side of the pub.
It was desperately quiet when I was in at Sunday lunchtime, with just me, one other punter, and the two barmaids in there to watch the rugby on the large pull down screen. This pub has a bit of a 70s feel to it, with a new(ish) bar counter and a 70s style bar gantry. But helpfully they did have a board on the side wall detailing the beers available - including bottled beers - with ABVs and prices listed. But I just looked at the pumpclips, as usual.
I didn't find this one to be anything special, but it's OK and comfortable enough to warrant a visit if in the area.
On 21st October 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Sebright Arms
Seems to be a local community pub and very busy on my visit.Comfortable interior but unimpressed by the wood panel back room.Looks like it came from MFI.Good range of cask and keg beers.I had a bottled beer -black milk brewed on site by the Seebright brewery.£5 for a small bottle complete rip -off but it was very good.
On 29th November 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Sebright Arms
To say this place has a colourful past would be a massive understatement. A fascinating history of it can be found on the pub website. Remarkably back in the 1980s it was apparently a Gibbs Mew (a Salisbury Brewery that closed in the late 1990's) outlet. Saved from demolition some years ago it is now rather a trendy place that was pretty well rammed on my Saturday evening visit. The single room is the usual bare floorboard affair that is typical of these places. There is a downstairs room that I didn't visit where live music acts perform. It was far too busy to make a note of everything on offer from the six handpumps but there was at least one cider (Severn Cider) and three London Brews, Hackney Best Bitter, Sambrook's Powerhouse Porter and Five Points Hook Island Red. There were also some keg fonts one of which I saw was London Fields. I went for the Hook Island Red (£3.80) which was in perfect condition but was served in one of those trendy dimple mugs. Sadly, apart from Sundays it doesn't open until 17:00. This pub is well worth a look especially as it is only a short walk from the Albion.
On 17th November 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Sebright Arms
Recently reopened according to another London based pub site.
On 23rd December 2011
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Sebright Arms
CLOSED & BOARDED (01/08/09)
On 3rd August 2009
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]