Pub Suggestions / Recommend Pubs for...

Belated cheers both @WjPrince and @aggi - will suggest to others...

Anyone got suggestions of places to drink near Brick Lane? The friend I'm meeting is visiting from Slovakia and is more into proper old man pubs with real ales and the like.

The Artillery is nice. Plus you can pop across the road and look at William Blake's grave

I bet he'd love hanging a gander at William Blake's grave. Thanks a lot!

Pride of spitalfields

I had a couple of pints in the Pride of Spitalfields in Heneage Street years ago and I liked it then. No idea what it's like now, though.

If you fancy the walk to Old Street, the Old Fountain and the Wenlock Arms are both very good.

Snap.

Classic polo slacker Lufuguss spot, miss those days, a lot of fun...

I go in the pride quite a lot. It's a nice little boozer. The fact it was in a David Gray music video I'll have to overlook.

Another option is hopping on the number 8 bus for ten mins at th bottom of brick lane (bethnal green road) and get off at old ford road and go to the Eleanor arms. I used to live directly opposite it and it would be harder to find a more charming old school east London boozer.

Tolkien's grandad's buried there:

https://flickeringlamps.com/2014/06/25/the-hill-of-bones-the-story-of-bunhill-fields/

proper old man pubs with real ales

There is that massive Wetherspods round the corner towards Old Street. Eastern Europeans that I've known love Wetherspods.

It's mad, you go in a trendy bar in Eastern Europe and it's all retro design classics or quirky theme places like the Depeche Mode bar in Tallinn or the Godfather bar in Kazimierz:

https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/omerta_37850v

but all my Polish mates like dusty musty boozers like the Sam Smiths ones in Soho or the giant Wetherspods like the one on Kingsway or Charing X road. You have to walk quarter of a mile to take a piss.

Is Wetherspod some sort of weird niche pet name for Wetherspoons?

Your pet's got a weird niche name.

Just wondered if it meant anything in particular.

Wetherspoons yeah, I think this one is the one I'm thinking of:

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/london/the-masque-haunt-old-street

Further up the top end of Brick Lane is the fusty musty old man pub The Birdcage on Columbia Rd where Victorian grave robbers decided to cut out the middle man and kill customers to sell the bodies for dissection.

https://www.drafthouse.co.uk/locations/birdcage

The Birdcage has had a make over not a sticky carpet boozer anymore :-(

About three years ago...

Anyone got recommendations for pubs nearish to Kings Cross? After a quiet place to sit and read my book with a crisp, delicious pint like the lonely, pisshead nerd I am.

King Charles I on Northdown Street is small and quiet, or the Scottish Stores on Caledonian Road is also good.

The King Charles has a fire. I'd go there today for sure. Feeling a little jealous...

^ Yup. Both of these. King Charles is your quirkier pub and (slightly) less likely to get a seat, but would be my choice.

Is the Queen's Head next to the NUJ still ok, anyone? Used to be good.

Or Harrison https://harrisonbar.co.uk/
Queens Head is still ok.

The Harrison or the Queen's Head probably. I'd favour the Harrison. Although if it's waiting for a train the Betjeman in the station is good for a station pub.

I also like Mabel's Tavern for a decent, traditional pub with a bit of sport on.

Cheers all! King Charles sounds like a goer. Waiting for a train but have about an hour and a half to kill so doesn't need to be right next to/in the station.

In King Charles now, lovely little pub! Thanks for the tip.

Could be a useful list - though (spoiler alert) with The Harp somehow coming in at number 1 I don't know if the rest of the list can really be trusted.

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/the-50-best-pubs-in-london-a4007216.html