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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
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Detail Pages
The Red Lion, Leytonstone, E11
E11
E11 3AA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Red Lion
This pub has been completely opened up, and probably has been for many years now. In its current incarnation it achieves a rather endearing mix of modern touches, such as the sofas at one end of the room and candles on the tables, and a basic scruffy pubbiness. I guess it might benefit from a bit of TLC here and there, such as a lick of paint on the Victorian cast iron pillars, and the bit of bare concrete where I suspect another door might have been positioned at some stage could do with either being disguised or covered. But I like this pub. It had ten ales on during my visit on Wednesday, which is most definitely a big plus. I’d like to visit again.
On 22nd October 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Red Lion
The Red Lion’s recent history has been the age old story of failed ventures and name changes, the last being Zulu’s, a South African themed night club. After Zulu’s closed the the building stood empty until the Antic pub group who specialize in resurrecting pubs in areas that, shall we say, need a bit of a helping hand where pubs are concerned, bought the property and reopened it under its former name.
The original pub was called the Robin Hood and dated back to the 17th Century becoming the Red Lion by the mid 18th Century. The current building dates from 1891. In the late 60’s / early 70’s it was a music pub with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Yes, Genesis and Roxy Music among the artists who performed here.
Today, the exterior contains many of its fine Victorian features including gables, a Lion frieze and a prominent corner tower that makes it quite a local landmark. It can be argued that the pubs original interior has been so ripped about over the years that it would be impossible to recreate any Victorian splendour that it may have once had but, even though it has been restored as far as possible, it does have a certain battered charm about it and they certainly didn’t overdo the paintwork. The single large open room has a few thin pillars propping up the high ceilings (note the clever use of low circular tables built around the foot) and furnishings are bare and basic with a large area of open floorspace in front of the bar, exposed walls and a couple of bookcases jutting out that help break up the cavernous interior. The large plain windows help make it quite light and airy and chandeliers add a touch of elegance among the stripped back feel of the place. The open bar has LION spelt out in large letters overhead, obviously not enough room for RED as well.
The big draw here is the newly introduced ales. There are 10 hand pulls and our visit coincided with a North/South beer festival with 5 from up there (if you can call Norfolk “up there”) and 5 from down here on the go at any one time across a 2 week period. The selections were a bit top heavy on the strength side culminating in an 8.5% Green Jack Ripper (which I didn’t try for safety reasons) and the use of sparklers on some of the “north” beers caused some debate among our group. That said quality was fine overall and at £3 a pint, prices were very reasonable. I didn’t see anything advertised regarding food so can’t really comment on what or if they have food available.
I didn’t note any TV’s, games machines or background music and it was fairly quiet during our early evening visit but I would expect the place to attract a reasonably civilized crowd. Antic have probably done as much to this place as it is possible to do for starters and it is promising to see someone making an effort to improve the general area’s poor pub reputation. I’m sure I will be back again in the not too distant future to see how things progress.
On 20th October 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]