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Picture of The Artful Dodger
Image posted by john mcgraw
Submitted on Thursday, 20th January 2011
With picture contributions to 21062 other pubs
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The Artful Dodger, E1

47 Royal Mint Street
E1
E1 8LG
Phone: 02074805526
Correct details

Served areas

Reviews of The Artful Dodger (Average Rating: 5 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Tris C left this review about The Artful Dodger

An area steeped in history, Royal Mint Street, originally known as Rosemary Lane until 1850, was home to London’s largest used clothing market, Rag Fair, from 1700 until the early 20th century. This street was also synonymous with thieves which may provide the pub’s current name – which arrived in 1985 – originally known as the Crown & Seven Stars, the name visible in pargeting to the parapet, between words above substantial Ionic pilasters with modified entablature with the inscription Wholesale & Retail, Warehouse above, with shorter pilasters with floral capitals; the building is also grade II-listed.
Loomed over by the DLR in what is a rather glum but rapidly gentrifying area, it's certainly an attractive building with its recessed first floor and external cast iron columns; what’s not so attractive are the windows to both entrances and main picture window which have been fractured sometime since June last year. The interior is well represented on the pub’s Facebook page, but otherwise the front is dominated by a pool table; thereafter it’s a bare boarded affair, extremely plain with brown or white wainscoting, an overall white theme, traditional furniture with some peripheral pews. There’s an upright piano for a good ol’ Cockney knees-up, dartboard to the rear with precious little décor aside from some framed covers from old boxing magazines and a TV showing the cricket with the sound off so as not to interfere with a decent soundtrack playing over the stereo. However, there’s an attractive bar back – sporting some Arsenal regalia – with an attractive gilt cornice above. Customers are resolutely old-school locals of mixed age; no office workers in here, that’s for sure.
Aside from a sad fizz selection, there is apparently cask beer but in the form of Doom and GK London Glory, both clips reversed, me opting for a half of Kronenbourg - £2.60 a half with a £5 minimum cash spend – served by a friendly barmaid, reminding me a little of Cheryl Baker.
This place is largely of curiosity value, but it’s worth a butcher's if only to experience a genuine East End boozer whilst it lasts, making for a good quintet with the Sir Sydney Smith, Brown Bear, Princess of Prussia and err…Wilton’s.

On 27th May 2023 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1955 recommendations about 1922 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Artful Dodger

Basic East End boozer, with a pool table at the front and the dartboard, slot machine and sports TV at the back. Not a lot of furniture, and very limited decor, with the side patio most popular place on a hot sunny afternoon. Young's Ordinary (£3.30) being dispensed from one of two handpumps, with a reversed Greene King IPA clip on the other.

On 24th September 2016 - rating: 6
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Rex Rattus left this review about The Artful Dodger

Obviously named after the well known Dickens character, this is just about the only pub left in the Mint St/Cable St stretch of road, made infamous by Sir Oswald Mosely back in the 30s. This pub struck me as a bit of an enigma – the ancient stonework signage on the exterior has it as a sometime wholesale and retail warehouse, but the pub’s layout, with decorated cornices and cast iron capitaled pillars are traditional pub features.

Anyway, inside it’s very plain and simple. Apart from some Dickens street urchin themed prints, there’s not much in the way of decor. The main feature is the pool table at the front of the room. Obviously the Flag of St George bunting was hung all over the place in the run up to the World Cup, and at the back was large TV tuned to some musuc channel. Furnishings amount to a handful of normal tables and chairs, and a carpet that has clearly seen better days.

There were two handpumps – one double-clipped with reversed Doom Bar and Young’s Bitter clips, and the other dishing out GK IPA (£1.60 a half). There was no sign of food on Wednesday afternoon. The only other people in were two ladies chatting at the bar, at least one of which, and possibly both, were barmaids. This is a very unpretentious little pub. It’s not really worth going out of your way to find, but it’s good to occasionally visit a rare survivor of a bygone age like this little place.

On 15th June 2014 - rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]

External web links for The Artful Dodger

No known official website for this pub.

Pub location see interactive map of local area
Map location corrected by Tris C
London Fenchurch Street, 0.47 miles, 9 min walk (show)
Shadwell, 0.67 miles, 13 min walk (show)
London Liverpool Street, 0.97 miles, 18 min walk (show)
Latest updates View all updates for The Artful Dodger, E1
27th May 2023, 19:52
Review submitted by Tris C amended by Tris C
 
27th May 2023, 19:52
Review submitted by Tris C amended by Tris C

Pub Details

Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.

  • Accommodation : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Bar Billiards : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Beer Festivals : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Beer Garden : Yes last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • CAMRA Discount : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Car Park : No last updated 29 July 2013 by Moby Duck
  • Darts : Yes last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Function Room : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Hot Food : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Jukebox : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Karaoke : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Micropub : No last updated 26 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Pinball : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Pool Table : Yes last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Quiz Night : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Real Ale : Yes - Possibly. - last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • Real Cider : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
  • WiFi : No last updated 27 May 2023 by Tris C
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