Aldgate pubs

The Aldgate Exchange, 133 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7PT

Map  Directions  Link  Search

This establishment resides in an area of London renowned for its odd traffic planning. The one way system is a nightmarish merry-go-round of irate taxi drivers and terrified out-of-towners all competing to change lanes simultaneously. The whole experience has now taken on a rather surreal dimension with the recent addition of a series of roadside urban sculptures, one of which resembles a policeman with a metal pole and a traffic cone stuck up its arse. Well, it's good to see my council tax money being put to good use. This pub is an assault on the senses the moment you enter. There is a whole host of sports screens and flashing fruit machines filtered through a yellow tobacco haze. The smoky atmosphere does not seem to deter the staff and students from the local campus of the London Met University. One individual had obviously hot footed from the nearest fancy dress party having failed in his bid to win first prize dressed as Bruce Willis from Die Hard. You just don't go out in public wearing a vest unless 1) you have the physique or 2) it is summer. Flash poseurs aside, this pub is a decent venue to watch the footie and they do a decent pint of Bass as well.

The Angel, 14 Crosswall, EC3N 2LJ

Map  Directions  Link  Search

Now closed, probably due to the Slug and Lettuce across the road.

The Castle, 44 Commercial Road, E1 1LN

Map  Directions  Link  Search

This place looms into view like a giant wedge of red and white cheese when approached from the east. As befits its location betwixt the City and the East End, there is a rather mixed clientele here: students from the nearby London Met University and a smattering of suits. As an Essex man I was pleased to see Ridley's Old Bob on offer and duly ordered a pint before finding a place to sit. The vacant table adjacent to the dart board was not tempting: darts landing anywhere apart from the board. As I risked incineration by sitting close to the fire I imagined Jim Bowen emerging from behind the dartboard saying "Look at what you could have won" whilst pointing to an enormous mobile home. A sign above the fire proclaims that the place is open at weekends until midnight. Beer, it seems, gets cheaper the longer you stay here. My first pint set me back £2.40, my second a mere £2. If you stay until the weekend you can buy a pint of beer for the princely sum of £1.50. Perhaps if you dodge the wayward darts and remain here long enough it will be free!

The Hoop and Grapes, 47 Aldgate High Street, EC3N 1AL

Map  Directions  Link  Search

Spared from incineration by the strong easterly wind in the Great Fire, the Hoop and Grapes has stood the test of time. It looks the part too, the whole ground floor appears to lean to the left when viewed from the front. It is as if the alchoholic fumes have entered the structure over the centuries and rendered the building drunk. On entering, the place expands off in all sorts of improbable directions making it unexpectedly quite large inside. The bar stocks all the usual suspects and not at the exhorbitant prices I had been warned about. The toilets down in the basement are dwarfed by the vaulted brick ceiling and make you feel like an ant in a roman hypercaust (but without the heat). One of the better pubs in the area.

Princess Of Prussia, 15 Prescot Street, E1 8AZ

Map  Directions  Link  Search

This is more like it! £1.30 for a pint of porter and fewer annoying suits than other pubs in the locale certainly gets our vote. The atmosphere here is sensibly balanced and the music, though clearly audible, never gets overpowering. It's a Shepherd Neame pub so you can expect good beer. It has an attractive and completely unexpected beer garden at the back, which is undoubtedly a magnet in the summer months. Not bad.

Still and Star, 1 Little Somerset Street, E1 8AH

Map  Directions  Link  Search

This little pub is tucked in a little alley off Aldgate High Street and close to the busy bus station. You have to question the logic of having a pub so close to a bus terminus. It certainly goes some way toward explaining some of the more erratic driving on the 115 route! It looks and smells as if this place hasn't been done-up since Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. The elongated bar room caters for a mostly standing crowd with just a few seats thrown in for the weak-limbed. Well, bus drivers spend their entire working day sitting down so they won't mind. At the time of my visit before the post work rush there were only a handful of drinkers who had obviously left the office early for a cheeky pint. The unhurried barman had his nose in a book at the end of the bar. A relaxing, if rather uninspiring boozer.

The White Swan, 21 Alie St, E1 8DA

Map  Directions  Link  Search

This would be a great pub if you gave it a clientele transplant (can you get those?). The beer is superb (Shepherd Neame) and the landlady has won a pub award for her efforts. It's just the people that go there that get on my nerves. First of all it's too busy. Everyone within a half mile radius appears to go there for a drink after work. Consequently you have to wait ages to get served at the bar. Secondly, the noise of the post work crowd is reminiscent of a school playground and stifles any attempt at meaningful conversation and you end up being reduced to eavesdropping on how Mike the marketing director has sent his son to the best private school. Yawn. If you're lucky the crowds usually thin out by 8ish, leaving you to share the place with those too drunk to move.

---

All content © Random Pub Finder 2001-2008, website development by Doogal