The Birds, Leytonstone, E11

Tris C left this review about The Birds

Dating from at least the start of the 19th century as the Crown Inn, the Barclay Perkins house was replaced by the current incarnation for Charrington’s around the 1930s. Today, the place takes its name from some film, the product of an obscure director who apparently lived round here.
The interior wouldn’t look out of place if operated by Antic, but it’s been in the hands of Laine’s since 2017. A mash-up interior features a bare boarded floor, distressed woodwork, some exposed brick, a splash of smoky blue paint but an interesting possibly Lincrusta cornice painted gold, but then some very fine polychromatic tiling to a wall, hinting at past glory; there’s a grand marble fireplace, above which is an LGBTQ+ flag, whilst a solitary TV showed dross with the sound off, to not interfere with a good soundtrack. The bar back is bare brick with tubular steel shelving and furniture is quite modern; there’s table football for the young crowd or bored games should they wish. There are comedy nights and ‘life drawing’ classes every Wednesday.
There’s no cask here with just two unused pumps then a reversed Old Rosie clip, a quartet of Laine’s keg beers, including their egregious Del Monte-inspired Mangolicious, a half of Guinness coming in at £3.20, served by a friendly barmaid.
As Moby mentions, this place is trying to be funky (and failing), so I funked off to the North Star, a minute’s walk from here.

On 19^th January 2024 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]