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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
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The Northcote Arms, E10
E10
E11 4EL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Moby Duck left this review about The Northcote Arms
Despite Quinnos experience below I found a lively and seemingly thriving local community pub, I agree the grey walls don't exactly excite and clashes with the bright blue bar front. There's five handpumps on the bar and they seemed to be promoting local beers with three on, Beerblefish Best Bitter and Hoppy Pale Nos 19, which was very good, along with ELB Jamboree.Lots of pub events were advertised including comedy nights and regular Drag Queen nights, music and quiz's It was decent.
On 17th March 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Quinno _ left this review about The Northcote Arms
* CAMRA heritage pub. Looked closed from the outside and might as well have been, I was the only punter. All the woodwork has been grey glooped and, the leaded windows and glasswork aside, there’s little actual heritage value. Cold, no lights in the back bar or the gents. A single cask (Beerblefish, whoever the heck they are) which was awful, I poured it away outside. Crap - there’s nothing here to justify the trip out. Astonishingly, it’s GBG’24 listed.
On 16th December 2023
- rating: 1
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Tris C left this review about The Northcote Arms
Situated in E11 not E10, this backstreet pub is a bit of a devil to reach, my visit precipitated by its citation on CAMRA’s list of pubs with historic interiors, this being of Special National Historic Interest; I’ll leave the written and pictorial description to said site, but the mauve colour scheme has been toned down a bit.
The place retains its separate two-room format and is part boarded, part carpeted, with some lovely stained glass clerestory windows. Customers were a mixed bunch with some friendly older locals, then younger more trendy incomers, a good Rolling Stones soundtrack playing on arrival, a place where drag acts strut their stuff come Sundays.
There were two unclipped pumps, then one I couldn’t make out as I’d arrived in the wrong room and couldn’t be bothered to go outside to use a different entrance, making me look a bit foolish in the process, so having to make do with a half of Estrella at a painful £3.00, served in tandem by a friendly barman and barmaid.
This is an ok pub which has a cask beer – albeit in the wrong room – and heritage interior; worth a look and would have got a higher mark with a better cask lineup.
On 2nd November 2023
- 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 The Northcote Arms
Not too far a walk from Leyton station, this is a nice backstreet community pub that places an emphasis on serving good beer from local breweries. The pub has a multiple room interior which has now sadly been knocked about a fair bit, leaving it in a limbo state somewhere between separate rooms and open plan. A corner entrance leads you into the main bar area which is bare boarded and has some nice leaded windows down two sides of the room. There’s a small stage to the right of the entrance, perhaps used for live music, whilst pew and chair seating runs along the left-hand wall with a big blackboard at the far end which lists the pub’s numerous upcoming events. The bar is over to the rear right and has a long, curved counter broken part-way along by a small pillar, whilst the bar back now comprises a small island in the middle of the serving area thanks to the removal of a large section to allow you to see through to the rear bar. The right-hand wall has tongue and groove panelling and has been covered in a large number of portraits, although I wasn’t clear on the significance of the various subjects, and this is all topped off by three highly decorative stained-glass windows which are a great eye-catching feature. A doorway leads through to a lounge-style bar with carpeting, floral pattern wallpaper and some comfy looking chairs. The room narrows as it passes the bar, partly thanks to a staircase that intrudes into the room on the opposite wall, creating a bit of an unfortunate pinch point. Moving on, you reach an opened out rear space, similarly decorated but with more seating and its own access to the bar. Music was playing quietly in the background on a Saturday evening visit and surprisingly there were quite a few kids in the rear bar when I arrived a little after 7pm.
The bar supports five handpulls but two of these were unclipped, leaving a choice of Three Sods Dark Magus, Signature Brew Roadie and Howling Hops Tropical Deluxe plus a few interesting craft keg options. The Dark Magus was £4.00 a pint but poured rather flat, despite the best efforts of the friendly barman. Thankfully it still tasted reasonably good and I think I’ll just have to chalk that one up to bad luck.
This is a nice pub that seems to have plenty going for it and is popular with the locals as a result. The dubious beer seems to have been a bit of an anomaly, so I’m prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt on that and suggest that this is worth the short detour from Leyton High Road to visit.
On 7th April 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Northcote
There were four ales on in here - the ELB pair of Cowcatcher and Foundation, plus Five Points XPA and Signature Brew Roadie. I had the Foundation which was in great shape, and my companions had other ales about which they raised no complaints. The 15% CAMRA discount brought the price of a pint down to less than £3.50, which is good going for London. I saw a menu advertising something called "Burger Bills", and at £3 or so for a burger I would hazard a guess that they may be more like sliders than burgers at that price, but we didn't partake so can't say for sure.
The interior still contains many original features, although quite a few changes have been made since its days of Victorian glory. The old public bar is on the left, has modern replacement boards, and with an original screen separating it from the old saloon bar on the right. This screen is mainly matchboard panelled, has a doorway (but no door now) with three glazed panels above featuring the Victorian favourite of small birds at their centre. There is also a delightful small baffle on the bar counter side of the screen with four small glazed panels featuring floral designs and a small bird.
Original stained glass panels survive in the upper protions of many of the outer windows; these have mainly floral-themed small panels, again with small birds in the central roundels. The bar counter also looks to be original, but like almost everything else in here is painted either light grey or lavender. There is a further room at the back on the right, reached via the saloon bar through a large wood-framed archway. This in turn leads to another small room that seems to be used as a children's play area - it was in noisy use during our visit and I would speculate is an area best avoided.
We liked this pub a lot. Good real ale at very competetive prices (especially if a CAMRA member) goes a long way to making this a destination pub. I'm not surprised it's in the GBG. I'm sure to visit here again sometime.
On 13th April 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Northcote
This one was a three bar Charrington house back in the day as can still be identified from the current set up. I did see a TV in the old public bar area where I parked myself on a Saturday afternoon but it was mercifully switched off and there was no sign of any pool table or darts.
They seem to have retained the old Charrington windows along the old public bar area which has a wooden floor and is served by the lower end of the large island bar. On the right is the carpeted old saloon bar area and at the far end of this the third bar area.
The public bar area has the four hand pumps which had Crate Red, ELB Foundation Bitter & Three Kings and Signature Extra Pale.
I went for the Crate Red which despite a very slight haze tasted fine. At £3.95 it didn't strike me as being anything remotely like a bargain.
I must have been to this one as a Bass Charrington outlet but it was so long ago I don't remember it at all. I'm sure it's better in the current incarnation and it's GBG 2018 listed.
On 24th December 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Komakino . left this review about The Northcote
Changed a bit since Steve's 2009 review, embracing diversity in the area and offering weekly Drag Cabaret, Closet Vinyl, East End Piano Sing-a-longs and Music Quiz. Four ales, all local, comprising Five Points XPA (unfined, but great and was a bargain - for these parts - £3.90), Signature Pale, Craft Golden and Craft Amber. The decor is a little haphazard, but has retained most of the finer points of the original pub's interior, and a Ceiledh band was warming up during my visit. It's trying hard to please everyone which is always a losing battle, but they get a laurel and hardy handshake from me on the real ale front.
On 1st November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1074 recommendations about 1074 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Northcote
This is a decent enough pub with two separate bars which both have screens for different sports which can show different things at the same time. Whilst I was there the tennis was being watched by a few people that were playing pool in the public bar and there was some Irish sport being shown in the front of the main bar and a rugby game was on at the rear. There is also a small room at the back of the pub that seemed to be a quiet haven from the TVs.
There is a small beer garden out the back that is split into two sections, one of which was holding a BBQ that didn't smell too great. There is also a large outhouse that had lots of pushchairs and walkers in it; I'm not sure what that is all about.
I would use this pub if I lived locally, but I wouldn't travel out of my way again.
On 13th July 2009
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5233 recommendations about 5201 pubs]