please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A happy return to one of my old student haunts! Friendly & attentive staff, four pumps with Nethergate Eddies Best, St Austell Tribute, Hopback Summer Lightning & Wells Bombadier all in fine fettle. The architectural character of the place has not been molested - tiled corridors, split-levels & etched glass, and space for a fag out the back. Its also on the wrong side of the tracks to be overwhelmed by the Olympian hordes. Look no further than the Eddie if you are in the area!
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Paid a brief visit here last Sunday afternoon. Despite having 4 handpulls, there were no ales on. Nethergate Eddies Best, Taylor Landlord & St Austell Tribute clips were all turned round. The pub itself is quite pleasant. But left feeling disappointed. Despite being in a shopping centre, I enjoyed the Tap East (next to Stratford International) much more.
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Tumbled off a National Express coach thirsty and desperate. Went in here expecting your average East London doghole - but what a pleasant surprise. Good atmosphere, attentive & friendly staff and architecturally interesting. Probably feels all a bit M C Escher in here if you've had a skinful. Don't let the Olympics spoil this one.
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Just paid my first visit to this place and was very pleasantly surprised. A super little front bar which looks like it has been there since the 16th century but is probably not that old (1913 according to one of the etched windows). Anyway, split level rooms at the back and a very interesting side corridor with impressive tiling. It was good to see that it still remains fairly untouched but obviously is up-to-date in trading terms with food and music available. There were 4 cask ales on pump and I tried their "house beer" Eddy's Best from Nethergate Brewery. It was fine as was the St.Austell Trubute. This pub would be a great place for ther tourists to discover when the Olympics come round but I doubt if any of them will eveer get to this side of town as all the venues are on the other side of the station - maybe that's a good thing as the pub will remain unspoilt!!
After a long and boring bus journey from The William IV in Leyton this was a great find and one I shall use again. You reach it by going straight through the shopping centre from the station and across the Broadway.
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" suprisingly quiet on a sat afternoon - solihullmaniac - 10 Apr 2011 17:11"
That's cos we're at the Boleyn Ground watching the Irons !! Have been drinking in the Eddy now for 28 years and it's still the best boozer in Stratford if you like decent beer.
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good smart friendly pub, quite different to everything else in stratford...lively enough on an evening, suprisingly quiet on a sat afternoon
food looked decent although i didn't eat
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Definately the best pub in the area, good beer& food , friendly staff and generally a warm welcome feel.
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Traditional town centre pub situated in the heart of Stratford Broadway.
"King Eddies" - as it badges itself - is a 19th century Grade 2 listed building, still retaining many original features including etched windows. A nice tiled entrance leads to a 2 bar pub. The front lounge bar has wood pannelling, low ceilings and a partly flagstoned floor. Up some steps towards the rear is a lighter, more airy room, which is the main restaurant area. The saloon bar has a mixture of sofas and normal pub seating, but still retains a traditional feel. There's no TV's at all and you get the feel that the pub is aiming at the more upmarket, professional end of the customer spectrum.
Food is evidently a big part of the operation and each table had a rolled up paper menu in a beer glass. A number of tables had "reserved" signs for stated later times.
In the lounge bar, there are 4 handpumps , but only two beers were on - Sharps Doom Bar and Bombardier. In the saloon bar, there's 2 banks of 4 pumps. One of the banks appears unused - all 4 pumps were unclipped - and the other bank of pumps were serving the 2 previously mentioned beers plus a beer called Full Steam Ahead. My pint of Doom Bar was average at best and, despite being listed in recent GBG's, I didn't detect any real emphasis or focus on real ale. The house beer - Nethergate Eddie's Best - wasn't on. Interestingly, the drinks menu includes some unusual bottled beers - Sam Smiths Organic Cherry, St Austell Clouded Yellow and Innis and Gunn amongst others.
On my early Sunday lunchtime visit, the temperature in the front lounge bar was a bit chilly and there was a distinct whiff of cleaning fluid, which made me retreat to the saloon bar.
I'd probably pop in again if in Stratford, but, taking the experience as a whole, I don't regard this as a pub worth going out of your way to visit.
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Visited the KE before the visit of the might Colchester United to Leyton Orient on 10 October 2009. Had a couple of pints, a very pleasant Nethergate’s, Eddies Best, which although local to Colchester I’d not tried before, also a pint of Sharp’s Doombar which was also in tip top condition. Very nice pub which I haven’t visited for over 20 years, good selection of ale, friendly staff and although I didn’t try the food the chips on the next table looked home made and smelled divine. 7/10
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Interesting pub with lots of character both inside and out, and plenty of original features in the lounge and saloon bars. The 'house' Eddie's Best from Nethergate Brewery was excellent. Busy, but not heaving, and a reasonable atmosphere. Given its location on Stratford's charmless gyratory system, opposite the equally unappealing shopping centre, it is almost verging on the remarkable...
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By far the best Pub in Stratford if rather expensive. Not many good pubs left in the area now. The only other I would frequent is the Black Lion, Plaistow. If you don't mind a multicultured community, and the lack of good pubs, Stratford is not as bad as some on here make out. There are worse places in London with no pubs at all, or ones with a chav fighting clientelle.
919er - 22 Mar 2009 11:41 |
This has to be one of the best pubs in London, beer, food, staff and patrons. There isnt a bad thing to say about it. If only it could be picked up and placed outside of Stratford where more people could appreciate it. That's the only thing holding it back....being situated in THE biggest shithole in London.
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The pub is a 19th Century Grade II listed pub. A quick walk through the shopping precinct seemed the quickest route and only took a few minutes from the underground station. The pub as you enter certainly does look all original. It is however like Nick Davies comments a pub of two halves. The rear bar restaurant area is definitely not original, and presumably recently changed. Like Trainman has already commented image 1 should not be the piccie for this pub. Image 3 or 2 would be much better. During our visit on 19/12 there was also a work Christmas Do going on in the seating. It seemed good natured and they were also giving out secret Santa presents. A girl from this group received an inflatable horse/jockey costume and took it with good grace wearing it to everyone’s amusement. A tall customer also wound up one of his mates my lifting his pint on to the ledge at the top of the panelling.
Two banks of four hand pumps in the pub part but only four in use during our visit. Nethergate Umbel and a personalised Eddies Best with Sharpes Doom Bar and Flowers IPA. The pub was chosen by our group as it was in the GBG and not too far from the O2 before the Madness gig. The music was quite loud here but it was the last Friday before Christmas!
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Strange split personality here. The front is a proper pub and looks much the same as it has done for decades. The back is faux gastropub, complete with pastel coloured paint over the wood panelling and those horrid horrid leather sofas, dim lighting and awful loud music. Which is fine in its way, all those who don't really like pubs can go and sit out the back on the sofas being deafened leaving the rest of us to enjoy quite a decent pub at the front with very decent beer.
I've no idea why anyone goes specifically to eat in town centre pubs like this, it is almost always regretted.
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Traditional pub decorated with lots of wood with several different areas. Reasonable range of beers, including two frm Nethergate on my visit. Beer was well kept and the place seemed to do a lot of food (but did not try any).
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I think image2 is far more evocative & representative of the pub, showing the front bar, rather than rear dining area in main photo. Front bar has stone tiling, wooden furniture, windows to street, but is softly lit & has darkly atmospheric feel as you enter, I wrote Dickensian but it’s actually 1913. I know! & I’d only had 2 pints at this point. Rear right continues the woody feel and here you find leather chesterfield sofa & chairs, something of the feel of a gentleman’s club, beyond this to scrubbed wood tables in restauarant & more leather chairs to rear. Bar menu included Saus&mash £8, Vension Burger £9, Duck Cassoulet £12. Wine of the week Collet de Bovis, Bellet, sounded steep at £20 but it can retail at £15 (cuvee de Mathilde). You can witness the gamut of Stratford life in the short but circular walk from the station, or take Greshon’s advice (16Feb07) & take a taxi to ‘avoid contact with Stratford’, - it’s cosmopolitan, but not as we know it, hahaha!
Anyway, Bombardier, Wooden Hand Cornish Mutiny, Tribute, all £2.80, or Nethergate Eddie’s Best (pres.IPA) £2.60. Bit of a drag out here for a one-pubber, but we combined it with Pembury (8mins Stratford to Hackney Central) & Carpenters/PrideofSpitalfields (6mins Hackney Downs to Bethnal Gr BR).
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The best pub in Stratford, easily. Nice pint of St. Austell Tribute, good rock on the sound system, yeah that'll do for me! Didn't try the food.
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Used to like this pub and think that the new publican has done a good job. However, drinks are pricey and the food is so not up to scratch, huge disappointment! Chef clearly not skilled and have observed him being extremely agressive to members of the public! It seems when the governor is away the staff do play!
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The Thursday night open mic nights are great, quiz nights are ok.
Foods a atd pretencious and possibly one of the mroe expensive pubs in Stratford, but thats becuase its the pub with the least trouble in Stratford.
Just be careful of the Italian barman if your taking your misses in there with you, as much as barman are paid to flirt with the ladies he really is trying to get her to go back to his.
prime - 22 Jul 2008 14:40 |
Stratford really is the devil's bumhole, but this place shines like a diamond haemmeroid. Sunday's pint of Nethergate Umbel was one of the best pints I've had in London - the equal of anything served by the Harp or the Olde Mitre. Really, it was that good.
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Starford is a $#!thole. This pub is one of only two reasons to visit. the beers good and Ive never seen any bother in here which, considering the area, is a minor miracle.
Nice quiet and relaxed of a weekday evening. if your in Stratford go here - nice.
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Cracking local with good beer and stunning food. The sprouting broccoli with shrimp was sublime.
The best real ale selection in Stratford (the cognoscenti don't consider Wetehrspoons a proper pub!) with some unusual bottle beer (St Peters is excellent) and a wine list that would shame most restaurants.
The also run a superb monthly wine tasting led by some bloke from The Groucho.
If only all pubs were like this......
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I was amazed to see two or three drunk people being served at the bar, where they remained. I was even more amazed when the three of them almost won the pub quiz!
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Went after Leeds game at orient yesterday. Can only comment on the beer, which was fine and the clientelle mix which was very mixed.
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Studenty
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In summary if you fancy a drink its not a bad spot, but the food has pretentions that the kitchen is not capable of fulfilling. I think it popularity is a result of the other pubs in stratford not being too good.
The pub itself has a nice old interior. The drinks are pricey but a good range. The food I have been very disppointed with and no longer eat there, For example Sunday Lunch was served on cold plates and hense all cold on arrival. Venision burger was really dry as overcooked and served in the kind of cheep burger buns that you would buy from you local Costcutter !
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A quick visit Saturday lunchtime and quite impressed with the place it has wooden floorboards and an Victorian interior and is posh for Stratford.Tried Nethergate beer from Clare in Suffolk and was good but pricey.More a fancy food place I guess but it has its attractions.The toilets were worth a visit alone.
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Have only visited this place at lunchtime but it's always been an oasis in an area devoid of even quarter decent pubs. Good range of very well kept ales, very good food and a very attractive environment. I'm happy to pay the rather steep prices since it offers something which isn't available for miles around.
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One of Stratfords better pubs, although it's gone a bit poncy in the last couple of years. Maybe not such a bad thing, seeing as the majority of the boozers in Stratford are such sh*tholes. Sometimes I don't mind a pub with posh pretensions if it means a change from visiting a filthy drinking pit and getting my head kicked in.
And cohenst - you're wrong - Shakespeare actually dined on foie gras here, and drank a spendid glass of 1523 'Old Mans Thumper'.
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Hmmm, the only Stratford entry in GBG 2008, and, admittedly, I only stayed for a while, but I found it too noisy (ridiculous, unnecessary loud music that ill-matched the toned down decor) and a bit disappointing. Perhaps a rather harsh summation, but the Nethergate Best Bitter was pretty good.
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full or irons.... advoid unless you want to here people talking about the slave trade, how great divercity is and 'i can't belive it's 2007 and theres still racism in the world'
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After seeing the reviews on here & living near to Stratford, I grabbed my partner & we went here for lunch one Saturday. The service was spot on, food even better & the range of beers was great. My partner likes Ales, but also drinks a lot of belgian beers, so to find a pub that close to us that serves Leffe was lovely. Staff are really friendly & we'll definately be going back with a few friends in tow!
Minxy - 10 Oct 2007 14:45 |
Just a silly joke. Actually, I'm British. I thought you'd like the custom of hoards of gullible American tourists. Good luck with the pub.
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I guess that cohenst, being in America, doesn't know the difference between Stratford and Stratford-on-Avon, hence all the comments posted at 04:something. Never mind, he won't know that the Eddie is really quite a decent pub for the area. It does serve proper ale and has far more character than the Golden Grove.
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Shakespeare liked to kick back and smoke a cigar here.
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Don't be put off by the accompanying photo that looks like a restaurant! The front bar is quite traditional and dark and 'pubby', and is below pavement level. The toilets are very small and inadequate; but everywhere is clean, there's a surprising range of foods from light snacks through to posh stuff, there are three or four interesting real ales and the staff are friendly.
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Just missed the D8 bus, so thought why not pop in and have a quick one. Wasn't expecting to find such a great place. Nice selection of ales. I'll be back.
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What a dreery, dingy, dark, un inspiring tip !
anonymous - 5 Jul 2007 08:48 |
Beautifully quaint little pub, did I say little? It's only little at the front as it seems to sprawl miles the further you walk to the back. Restaurant with space aplomb and an extensive menu not to mention the tasteful decor.
I'm a musician who has recently been invited to play at their Open Mic's on Thursday nights and wow, the crowd was so supportive! The sound system was great! For once, there was no hostile atmosphere so often found in east end boozers. I hate the area but this pub is a real diamond in the rough.
Head on down at your next opportunity. You won't be dissapointed!
anonymous - 25 Jun 2007 14:23 |
A real gem in a rubbish area for pubs. 4 real ales on draught 2 from Nethergate, 6X and Summer Lightning when I visited. Great multi bar pub. Good Whisky selection. Even has a garden outside. Definitely worth a visit. The Nethergate Suffolk Bitter was top notch. Service was excellent and toilets were clean. Excellent!
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Have to agree with becks007 about this one. My heart always sinks when my work colleagues suggest going here instead of the Black Bull just down the road.
Surly staff and slow service have been the themes whenever I've been in there. Not been there for about 6 months now so it may have changed but I doubt it.
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i have to disagree and say i don't know a better pub in Stratford. Great beer, great food, nice staff and customers. With the smoking ban in coming into place more pubs will have to do more food to survive. get used to it. Top pub.
JB217 - 22 May 2007 22:23 |
How can this be the 3rd best pub in the country?
Its not even in the top 3 in Stratford.
If you want dinner go to a restaurant,if you want
a good drink go to a pub.
I dont dislike this place but I wish pubs would
be pubs and restaurants would be restaurants.
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Lovely food, great selection of beers, this is a gem in an area of grotty pubs.The one improvement to be made will come in the Summer when the smoking ban comes into effect.Can't wait.
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nice friendly pub, well kept ales, enticing menu, well worth a visit
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'King Eddy's' is a perfect old pub and the only reason for coming to Stratford. It's a traditional old place that does everything right, including the drinks and the exceptional food. God knows what it's doing in the middle of such a hell-hole, but it really is worth making the effort to get here. In a taxi, preferably, to avoid contact with all else Stratford.
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Haven't been in for a few years, and in the meantime it seems to have had a bit of a spruce up without touching any of the Victoriana that this pub is famous for. There is a new dining room off the back bar and a couple of comfy sofas in keeping with a new, low-key 'gastro' approach. I'm no fan of gastropubs, usually, but Stratford certainly needs one. By and large, pubs in this area tend to be flyblown hovels haunted by the lonely, or places where you can expect to have a broken ashtray rubbed in your face, and then partially eaten by an illegal fighting dog. Or Yates. Or Wetherspoon. So it's nice to come to a place in Stratford where you can get a decent, well-kept pint, sit on a clean chair at a clean table (with a beermat.) and actually enjoy a bit of civilisation in the crappiest corner of our great city.
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Good beers and nice food in a good old fashioned smokey pub... recommended!
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Nice warm friendly pub, good Food, went in one sunday pm for dinner was very nice indeed.
anonymous - 26 Aug 2006 14:30 |
King Eddies is really one of the best places to drink and eat in Stratford and probably most of the East end. The food is absolutely fantastic in the bar and in the restaurant. There's a board in the restaurant that describes what British food is in season and what's going out which is brillaint. You can tell that the food, drink and service means alot to the people that run it and the atmosphere is great. Really worth going to!
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im a pub manager from the area and im not affraid to say that i also think this is a nice pub. i dont use the premises but maybe other pubs should adopt some similar polices.
anonymous - 26 May 2006 12:31 |
Absolutely fantastic food, a whole class above the usual gastropub fare, and at very very reasonable prices. Great wine list too. Definitely worth the trip to Stratford; this was the best meal I've had in a long time.
anonymous - 24 May 2006 13:47 |
Is Stratford the bastard brother of Bradford? Cos these places are both as grim as each other. However, after the olympic nonsense we will no longer be able to sit and have a quiet cheap pint at the eddie - it will be a nobby gastropub full of 3-wheel buggies and yummy mummies. enjoy the silence whilst it lasts.
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The area around Stratford shopping centre and the station is a William Hogarth print made into a film by David Lynch. With a bit of Hieronymous Bosch chucked in. This pub really IS the only reason for going there. Well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. If you sit in the windows at the front you can watch the winos punching each other in the street.
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I've always had a friendly reception at the Eddie and the food's good & varied as well as the beer.
It's an unusual layout with varied furiture, lots of dark wood and the building itself has a relaxing atmosphere.
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i really like this pub, looks like an old man boozer from the outside. But good young crowd on a thursday thru sunday night..
anonymous - 12 Jun 2005 21:19 |
The only reason to go to Stratford,
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A lively atmospheric pub and the best in E15. A fab cross section of patrons (do they still hold their D&D evenings mid week?) Used to by my local when I worked for a local bank. Great times back in the late 70s. Good juke box.
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Excellent pub with a selection of real ales (Adnams Broadside & Charles Wells Bombadier amongst others). Used to be a great haunt of students of the nearby University, but probably less so now as the upper bar has been transformed into a fully fledged restaurant.
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well i wouldnt go as far as to say stratford would be 100% sh**t if it wasn't for this bar as thats idiotic. Obviously this writer/rater likes their drink ;-)
I really like this friendly pub, young, trendy and good music. I hear they have a open mike night too. 8/10 rating.
anonymous - 9 Sep 2004 12:24 |
The only reason to go to Stratford is for this pub. The rest of the place is like Rhyl on a bleak weekend.
Thankfully, the Eddie manages give some sort of hope for the residents and locals.
Rachel - 5 Mar 2004 19:04 |
Stratford would be 100% sh** other than this fantastic boozer and the fact that I live there.
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fabulous pub, great atmoshere and good food. Landlord not bad either
sharron dumez - 27 Jan 2004 17:11 |
Apart from that recidivist alco bullshitter Dave Bass (a.k.a Gibson - Gibbon more like (geddit?)) charming atmos with the trendy young things of E15 splendid pint of Scrumpy Jack not to be found here fair chance of a shag (though skag mor likely) after nineish on a Saturday evening. Highly (!) recommended
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Fantastic pub,went in for a drink on 02/06/03,great barman called dave bass, nice beer aswell. 9/10
d gibson - 6 Jun 2003 12:31 |
East-End boozer, youngish 20-30 something crowd, friendly, relaxed and good natured staff and customers, good choice of food and beer (usually 4-5 real ales on at a time).
Seán - 17 Mar 2003 09:12 |
