Phil Mellows discovers a great stocking filler for anyone who embraces the traditional East End pub, on screen and off

The cover of the book East End Pubs — Image: Hoxton Mini Press

In 1985 I was invited to the launch party for a new television soap called EastEnders. I believe it’s still going. The reason I was there, as a journalist writing about pubs, was the Queen Vic.

Pubs have a key role to play in soap operas. Coronation Street’s Rovers Return and Emmerdale’s Woolpack were already recognised as a device for bringing characters together and enabling them to interact.

The Queen Vic, though, seemed to be something more, as though it would be unthinkable to set a drama in East London without putting a pub at its heart.

Now a new book, simply titled East End Pubs, by Alistair von Lion and Tim George, celebrates this culture, telling the stories of 65 pubs, illustrated with some smashing photography

“In over 1,000 years of existence,” write the authors, “the East End has only had two constants: change and the humble public house. It is the latter’s vital presence that constitutes the core of the city’s soul”.

That may be overblowing it a little, but there’s no doubt that in a fast-changing world pubs are a tangible link to our history. Often, as the authors add, it’s the pubs themselves that are swept away or gentrified, making those that have survived that much more important.

Browsing East End Pubs, some real beauties catch the eye, and it feels like East London has been specially blessed with survivors. Yet the ‘East End’ here is confined to Tower Hamlets and its Hackney borders.

Newham does have its gems: the Boleyn, the Denmark Arms, the Black Lion, the Railway Tavern, the Eddie, the Holly Tree, the Golden Fleece. I’ve probably forgotten a couple, but you can see how you’d struggle to fill a book.

Even so, East End Pubs would make a lovely Christmas present – and it would be nice, of course, to support the Borough’s remaining traditional pubs over the festive season by popping in for a pint or two.

East End Pubs: a celebration of East London’s most iconic boozers, by Alistair von Lion and Tim George, is published by Hoxton Mini Press at 25 pounds.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.