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Martello Hall, E8

137 Mare Street
E8
E8 3RH

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 4 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


custodian 42 left this review about Martello Hall

Pretentious place. One main room with bar to the rear. Further room to right doing pizzas. No real ales - just keg. Bottles and cans in fridge to the rear.

On 19th September 2018 - rating: 3
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Tris C left this review about Martello Hall

Until 1989, this was the Warburton Arms, a name which has recently been exposed at the parapet in ham-fisted style. In 2016 it was renamed Martello Hall, probably influenced by the adjacent Martello Street, originally Tower Street. It’s a corner pub with pilasters topped with unusual capitals. The upper floors are recessed, leaving a partial balcony with railings and pineapple finials.
Inside, and it’s very much all change. To say that the interior is distressed is an understatement – distraught would be a better description, a cross between intentional severe neglect and steampunk. There’s a rough plaster ceiling, partially wiped with a pale blue wash – an attempt to mimic the sky? Fitted to it are two ceiling fans which resemble wooden biplane propellers – they are linked by a leather belt, powered by an independent drive unit. The walls are part wainscoted and painted a pale grey. The floor is bare boarded and there are two vertical RSJs which may or may not be structural. Two additional columns are evident, original, and topped with ornate capitals. However, they’ve been entirely encased in wound rope. There are some modern bench seats to the periphery with tables and chairs at centre, again looking a little industrial. A further long high bench of around 15 feet is made from rough wood and for some reason is topped with a carpenter’s vice. Set into the walls on several floors, are what look like rusty steel watertight riveted bulkhead doors. Lights in simple glass shades hang on long flexes from the ceiling. The bar appears to have a perforated copper top with an interesting rusty metal grate running along its entire front – original or not, I don’t’ know. The rear of the bar has a metal panelled finish, with at least twelve beer taps set into it.
Upstairs and there’s a rather swanky cocktail lounge which looks wholly out of place, but the ‘Washrooms’ (for God’s sake stop using this stupid Americanism) look unhygienic, with a communal basin which resembles some rusty trough with stopcocks.
Ales: none, with a half of Moretti coming in at £2.60.
Overall, Martello Hall resembles some sort of seafaring workshop or perhaps is attempting to recall a Martello tower’s interior. Either way, it’s definitely not my thing.

On 2nd May 2018 - rating: 2
[User has posted 1956 recommendations about 1923 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve of N21 left this review about London Fields

I remember this one room corner pub many moons ago when it was called the Warburton Arms and part of the Taylor Walker chain. Obviously modernised since those long ago days with its dark wood, bare floored interior mirroring the fairly dark exterior décor.
I don’t think an early Sunday lunchtime is the best place to visit this pub and our party of three trebled the clientele when we walked in.
I think this place is probably aligned to a younger audience and probably comes into its own during one of the advertised DJ weekend nights. But for us, despite Dark Star Hop Head available on the one functioning pump (with Doombar reverse clipped), the uninspiring adjective used in a previous review is quite apt.

On 23rd March 2015 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2094 recommendations about 1985 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Alan Winfield left this review about London Fields

The London Fields is a decent sized pub situated on the busy mare street.
Once inside there is a decent sized single oblong shaped room with an island bar,there is pew type seating to the front right and leather bench seating on the left side,there are normal tables and chairs to the rear left.
There was one real ale on the bar which was Doom Bar,this was a bit poor in my opinion.
The pub was empty at 1.00 but there was loud background music playing to me and the barman.
This pub seemed pretty sad to me.

Pub visited 4/10/2014

On 4th October 2014 - rating: 5
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Rex Rattus left this review about London Fields

What struck me as I entered this pub was the all-pervading smell of josticks. I didn’t see any, but they were definitely there somewhere. All manner of drinks were advertised on small boards and signs – jugs of sangria, bloody marys, jaegershots, etc. Not being tempted by the pickleback shot (?) at £3.50 I went for the Doom Bar (also at £3.50 – but for a pint).
The only original features left in this Victorian pub are the cast iron pillars, and possibly the bar counter. Otherwise it’s all bland greys and blacks with nothing of interest that I could see. The seating was OK, being plain old tables and chairs, but there wasn’t really anything that would prompt me to pay a return visit. Perhaps it was the josticks that put me off (for some reason I don’t want my pubs to smell like an Indian bazaar), and I wouldn’t label it a bad pub, just uninspiring. On the plus side the barmaid was cheerful and friendly.

On 8th August 2011 - rating: 4
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]