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Birdcage, E2
E2
E2 7QB
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Gus Woltmann left this review about Birdcage
Housed in what appears to be a former Truman or Charrington establishment, this pub is unmistakably a Draft House, evident from its external green tiling. However, the interior fails to captivate, presenting a rather dull and scruffy atmosphere in an opened-out L shape. The limited charm of the space is complemented by three pumps, featuring Siren Undercurrent and Burning Sky Plateau (NBSS 2.5), along with an array of keg options.
Regrettably, the service did little to enhance the experience. The barmaid, seemingly uninformed about Untappd despite the pub having a listing, added a peculiar note to the visit. This lack of awareness seemed out of place in what is purportedly a craft beer bar. Overall, the pub left me with few positive impressions to recount.
On 26th November 2023
- rating: 10
[User has posted 3 recommendations about 3 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Birdcage
On 8th February 2018 - rating: 6
Situated on Tower Hamlets’ flower-powered Columbia Road, the Birdcage has been here since the mid-18th century though was probably rebuilt in the 19th and has since lost its raised parapets despite retaining attractive green glazed tiling as well as some decent Truman’s regalia to the front and rear.
Now part of the Draft House chain and despite being a very cold night I didn’t experience a drafty house – does this company mean Draught House by any chance? Anyway, until recently this was a bit of a dodgy boozer but has been transformed into a family/hipster-orientated pub with an attractive interior, seemingly toned down quite a bit since some of the earlier reviews. Just how much of the original interior remains isn’t obvious, but the field panelled bar with pot shelf certainly looks authentic, though as mentioned, the bar back is of rather tedious glazed white tiles. Nevertheless, it does indeed feel more pubby than you’d expect, though the log burning stove being lit would have been a bonus. Furniture is mixed and conventional, the floor is bare boarded and I didn’t see any TVs; music was muted. There were paper menus on tables which I didn’t get to peruse though I don’t think that this is a gastropub in the true sense of the word.
The barmaid was friendly and efficient though presided over just two ales: Sambrook’s American Red and Siren’s Six Nations’-influenced Ruck ‘n’ Maul at £2.10 a half, served in a wineglass. I wish I’d spotted the ABV as it weighed in at a rather weedy 3.5% making it a bit bland.
With Friday and Saturday 1.00 am licences I could easily have spent some time in here as on balance this is a nice pub, making for a great triple when combined with The Royal Oak and Marksman, but a wider and more interesting selection of ales would result in a higher mark, as would a nice fire to keep out the Draft.
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Now taken over by BrewDog with all that entails, minus the industrial interior. Virtually all tables cluttered with glasses with a barmaid wafting around; the closing time of 10.00 pm was unwelcome. What was certainly unwelcome was the three vacant pumps, me going for some 'craft' beer at 6.5% which set me back £4.75 a half; despite the poor cask range (not to mention prices), the Royal Oak is next door.
On 15th February 2023
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Birdcage
After the takeover of the Draft House chain ,this is now a BrewDog pub.The building has been tidied up and retains fine dark green glazed exterior tiles.Inside also feels traditional with high Victoria ceilings,the L shaped interior has a lower level short leg.Furniture is also trad ,and there is little BrewDog neon nor obvious branding .Even the food menu was very much pub grub .Great soundtrack lifted a quiet lunchtime interior.
Unsurprisingly there is no real ale,and four banks of keg taps offering around 6 BrewDogs ,but guest continental lagers and craft keg from respected brewers.My Hammerton Chicha Sour was pleasant but £3.40 the half.Walk around the taps to see what is on,there is no beer board or list.
Sitting next to the smart artisanal shops of Columbia Street but very adjacent to a major social housing estate,this pub might well suit both audiences if they have the lucre.Not bad at all.
On 31st August 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Birdcage
A Draft House pub, presumed ex-Truman or Charrington via the external green tiling. Inside is dull, scruffy/dirty and an opened-out L shape. Three pumps with two ales on; Siren Undercurrent and Burning Sky Plateau (NBSS 2.5) plus a plethora of keg. The dopey barmaid didn't know what Untappd was, despite them having a listing (and us being there for a bottled beer it was claimed to have a few days before) and it being a, err, craft beer bar. A pub of few real positives as far as I’m concerned.
On 11th July 2019
- rating: 4
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about Birdcage
Nice traditional pub with real ales, on its own a bit but a nice find
On 6th March 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about Birdcage
Situated on Tower Hamlets’ flower-powered Columbia Road, the Birdcage has been here since the mid-18th century though was probably rebuilt in the 19th and has since lost its raised parapets despite retaining attractive green glazed tiling as well as some decent Truman’s regalia to the front and rear.
Now part of the Draft House chain and despite being a very cold night I didn’t experience a drafty house – does this company mean Draught House by any chance? Anyway, until recently this was a bit of a dodgy boozer but has been transformed into a family/hipster-orientated pub with an attractive interior, seemingly toned down quite a bit since some of the earlier reviews. Just how much of the original interior remains isn’t obvious, but the field panelled bar with pot shelf certainly looks authentic, though as mentioned, the bar back is of rather tedious glazed white tiles. Nevertheless, it does indeed feel more pubby than you’d expect, though the log burning stove being lit would have been a bonus. Furniture is mixed and conventional, the floor is bare boarded and I didn’t see any TVs; music was muted. There were paper menus on tables which I didn’t get to peruse though I don’t think that this is a gastropub in the true sense of the word.
The barmaid was friendly and efficient though presided over just two ales: Sambrook’s American Red and Siren’s Six Nations’-influenced Ruck ‘n’ Maul at £2.10 a half, served in a wineglass. I wish I’d spotted the ABV as it weighed in at a rather weedy 3.5% making it a bit bland.
With Friday and Saturday 1.00 am licences I could easily have spent some time in here as on balance this is a nice pub, making for a great triple when combined with The Royal Oak and Marksman, but a wider and more interesting selection of ales would result in a higher mark, as would a nice fire to keep out the Draft.
On 8th February 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1983 recommendations about 1949 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Draft House Birdcage
Located at the western end of Columbia Road, famous for its weekly flower market, this is another outlet for the rapidly expanding Draft House chain. They’ve done a reasonable job of keeping the pub’s Victorian East End boozer feel, but have updated all the furniture and given the place a good lick of paint, leaving a nice contemporary feeling pub that should have a bit of crossover appeal. The interior is set out in a broad L-shape, with a similarly shaped servery along the back wall. The room is bare boarded and the bar has a nice dark wood counter and matching canopy supported by nicely carved pillars. However, the bar back is a victim of modernity, having been given the white tile, craft beer look. For me, one of the highlights was the wonderfully patterned ceiling, which gently glowed in the muted evening light supplied by a series of attractive lamps. Banquette seating is available under the windows, with high tables and stools closer to the bar and some canteen-style tables and benches in the front left corner. The room runs a fir way to the rear and back here you will find a mix of pew and low stool seating. This area offered the only free seats when I visited, but the nearby toilets smelt so awful that I had to give up my seat and move well away from them. The colour scheme is a mix of grey and green, with some wine glass print wallpaper thrown in for good measure. I noted a few music themed items around the room, including a framed old NME cover and some LP sleeves, with the traditional East End upright piano also present and correct.
Three ales were available at the bar – Sambrooks Pump House Pale and two from Thornbridge; Kipling and Hirundo. As you might expect, there was a wide range of craft keg and bottle/can options, all detailed painstakingly on daily printed menus. This chain tends to offer cheap cask ale on one of its handpulls, and on this occasion it was the Kipling that had the discount, with a pint marked down from £4.50 on the menu, to a very reasonable £2.90 and in very good condition to boot.
I’m really warming towards this chain, as unlike other craft beer chains, their pubs all feel very different and have a lot more character as a result. The good value beer and extensive selection of craft options are also big plus points and I’d say this place is well worth seeking out if in the area.
On 15th November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Draft House Birdcage
Cant add to much to Steve and Rex's findings below,very lively on a Saturday evening,it was more pubby than I was expecting, thats not a bad thing in my book,a very good bottle selection was on view and I had the best beer of the day on cask, Tiny Rebel Cwtch. The only slight downside was when asking about any CAMRA discount available, the girl serving had no idea what I was talking about, it was late into the days drinking and I couldn't be bothered to press the issue.Anyhow a quite enjoyable pub.
On 8th December 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Birdcage
Wow now that is a change from when I visited the Birdcage a few times over the last 18 months when exiting the nearby BGA sports facilities. Well, by visited I mean poked my head round the door, found only a few locals in and nothing worth drinking on the ale pumps, and turned round and circled back to the pubs on the high road.
Now there are those that are going to bitch and moan about what they see the loss of yet another traditional Victorian East London boozer, but my understanding was that this place was kept alive by the weekend ‘east end stylie’ karaoke evenings but was failing and in danger of going the same way as so many other corner back street locals in this part of the world.
The pleasant external green Victorian tiling is still in place, but the interior is now much more modern and although the Birdcage is now two parts Hoxton hipster hangout and one part East End boozer, better that than no part boozer and just another block of residential flats.
And whatever your personal view of the black ceiling and walls with inlaid wallpaper panels, stripped wood flooring, and the new mustard coloured bar stools, I’ve seen a lot worst travesties carried out in the name of modernisation. And the brass lighting fixtures and the impressive remaining ash wood canopy bar still tells you this is still very much a pub.
And although the tiled bar backdrop with its large optics of premade luminous e-numbered cocktails may be more Islington nite bar than east end boozer, what has clearly improved is the beer choice and where the usual run of the mill draft offerings once resided there are now several banks of craft beers from predominantly London brewers, two fully stocked bottle large fridges and three fully functioning ale pumps.
Craft beers from Beavertown, Camden Town and Siren were on the pumps including some American offerings from the Against the Grain Brewery. Sambrook’s Wandel is the house ale and then Moor Raw and Siren’s Love of Work was on the other pumps, all three of which we tried and were well kept
And then a couple of impressive fridges with a wide choice of beers of different styles and breweries and I noticed a few from the Box Stream brewery and Pressure Drop.
We didn’t eat but I did like the nod to this pubs heritage with the Pie, Mash and liqueur menu albeit at a price level that would have my granddad cussing in his grave.
There are those that will not see the march of the Hoxton hipsters east as a good thing. But if this is what it takes to keep this wonderful old former Truman pub building as a place dispensing alcohol, bring it on I say.
On 3rd May 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Draft House Birdcage
This is the latest addition to the ever growing Draft House chain. I hadn't visited this before it re-opened in its current guise, but it's certainly got a modern look inside. Having said that, inside it still has what looks to be the original ceiling decoration and entrance vestibule, while on the exterior is the original Truman's signage, and green tiled walls. The furnishings are a mixed bag of settles/pews, banquettes, benches, small stools, standard tables, and with only a couple of tall tables/tall stools. Modern touches include the large fishbowl lightshades, perhaps intended to give a "gaslamp" look. The music being played got a bit loud and raucus by 16.45, but not so loud as to inhibit conversation.
But on to the important stuff. The three handpumps were clipped for Sambrook Wandle, Henry's Hop & Rye, and Five Points Hook Island Red. As well as the ale clips, they all also had a "SALE" clip on them as well. Asking about a CAMRA discount, the barman confirmed that it still applied, but not during January when all three ales are on sale at £2.75 a pint. That's good enough for me. For some reason my companion went for the Wandle, which is only second behind London Pride as his favourite beer, but I opted for the stonking 6% Hook Island Red. A new one on me, this turned out to be absolute nectar of a full flavoured beer. A bargain at £2.75. All the optics behind the bar seemed to have bottles containing different coloured liquids attached to them, and an enquiry of the barman revealed that they all contain something called "cocktail", apparently already made up to speed things up when it gets busy. I can't imagine why anyone would want that when you can have Hook Island Red at £2.75 a pint, but I suppose it takes all sorts and there's no accounting for taste.
Food didn't seemed to be ridiculously priced, but I did spot at the bottom of the menu that a 12.5% service charge is applied. Steak and ale pie, plus mushy peas and green liquor or onion gravy is £7.90 - mash is an extra £1. I also noticed something else that came with either "farmhouse saison or French picpoul". Delicious probably.
Despite the fact that this is no longer the traditional boozer it no doubt once was, we enjoyed the hour or so we spent in here. Excellent beer at knockdown prices probably helped a lot to increase our enjoyment.
On 19th January 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]