For her birthday on 19 August, London Pubs Group regular Albina suggested that we visit five new or resurrected pubs along the Mildmay line of the London Overground. It was a long, warm Wednesday evening and the trains were frequent, contrary to an unhelpful earlier warning that none would be running.
At 6pm the main party convened at the modern Tap East bar on the outside of the Westfield Shopping Centre, across the square facing Stratford International station. A cool pint of Pretty Decent’s Employee of the Month on tap was my choice, and pretty decent it was!
Separate groups then made their way back through the shopping mall to catch the train to the next Mildmay line stop, Hackney Wick. It was my first visit there: converted warehouses, cobbled squares and brightly coloured murals. The one Good Beer Guide pub, the Beer Merchants Tap, was serving no cask beer – understandably, perhaps, given the heat – but a few of us sampled the Howling Hops Brewery & Tank Bar and Crate Bar & Pizzeria. I enjoyed halves of Motueka pale ale in the former and Mango and Salted Lime sour on the canal-side terrace outside the latter before we retraced our steps to the Lord Napier & Star in White Post Lane, our next scheduled meeting point.
Originally opened in 1868, this Truman’s pub had been closed from 1995 until reopening in 2021, splendidly restored. The Five Points Best had suffered from the heat but upstairs on the spacious roof terrace we were treated to a free almond liqueur cocktail promotion.
Catching arriving next at Hackney Central, some of us walked across the churchyard and alongside the railway back to the Chesham Arms in Mehetabel Road (E9 6DU). A celebrated success in pub protection, not least for CAMRA, this pub had been gutted and closed for three years (2012 to 2015) by a developer who had illegally converted its upstairs rooms for residential use. You would never imagine that now. From an attractive choice of beers and ciders, I enjoyed a half of Burton Bridge Brewer’s Gold down in the bustling sun-trap garden.
We walked back under and along the other side of the railway to rejoin the main party at the Cock Tavern in Mare Street, the current East London & City CAMRA branch Pub and Cider Pub of the Year. Another former Truman’s pub, built in 1930, it was lovingly restored and reopened in 2012 after several years of neglect. I chose the Sureshot Lazin’ on a Sunny Afternoon from the huge range of beers and ciders available.
Taking the next train, a dozen of us alighted at the next stop, Dalston Kingsland, to visit the Black Eel in Kingsland High Street once an eel & pie shop but recently reopened by Exale Brewery as a sprawling, multi-roomed pub featuring a boat among the seating in the beer garden at the back. We enjoyed the one cask ale, Exale Bitter, before heading back to the station and onward via Highbury and Islington.
Time did not allow another off-piste Canonbury stop for the Snooty Fox. Walking down Compton Terrace from Highbury Garden brought us straight to the Pocket in Canonbury Lane, a very small pub that most of the group had conveniently just left.
This former Courage pub opened in March 2025 as a sister to the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town, as well as the Cock Tavern. Locally listed, its description is as follows: ‘Timber frontage. Stone pilasters with ornate brackets above (lights fixed to brackets). Small timber fascia with dentil cornice riding above. Paned leaded, stained blue glass in centre.’ I chose the Green Jack Lurcher stout, possibly my tastiest cask ale of the evening.
Kentish Town West was our final Mildmay line destination, and our reassembled group constituted at least half of the late evening clientele at Tapping the Admiral in Castle Road, a frequent North London CAMRA award-winner. An early Victorian building at the junction of Castle Road and Hadley Street, formerly Tavern Inn the
Town, Fuzzcock & Firkin and originally the Trafalgar Tavern, this locally listed pub closed in the early 2000s but was restored and reopened in 2011. I enjoyed the Kent Golding Bitter and the relaxing feline company of Nelson before leaving at closing time.
Finding no trains running beyond Willesden Junction, I was lucky to board a southbound bus to its terminus, then another to Camden Town for the last Northern Line train to South Wimbledon and another two buses home soon after 1.30am. What a wonderful evening we’d had, and thank you, Albina. (Your walk from Twyford to Wokingham on the Saturday was another story!)
Geoff Strawbridge
Editor’s note: there is a link here to the other LPG article in this edition, not just in the name of the pub’s cat but in the name of the pub itself. Following his death at Trafalgar, there was no question of burying a noble hero at sea, especially as he had already planned his own state funeral! Legend has it that Viscount Nelson’s body was temporarily preserved onboard HMS Victory in a cask of brandy. The Victory’s surgeon considered brandy to be more suitable than rum for this purpose. The body was to be placed in a more fitting container once the ship reached Gibraltar but, during the passage however, some of the ship’s crew surreptitiously drilled a hole in the cask and inserted a plug. This allowed them to make sure that the brandy did not go to waste. This somewhat unsavoury practice became known as ‘Tapping the Admiral’.