Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 2 and Version 1 of Commercial Tavern, E1 6NU

An artily-redecorated old pub on Commercial Street in Spitalfields.

All the reviews point to the artiness of this place, and it's hard to disagree. There's a collection of lampshades above, Interview magazine covers pasted to one of the walls, all the chairs are colourfully decorated, and the walls are a melange of pastel. Still, the first thing one notices is just how dark it is downstairs even on a bright sunny afternoon (all the shutters are kept closed). However, spending a little time to adjust and there's no shortage of delights -- and anyway, the upstairs room gets plenty of light and can get correspondingly busy.

Four ale handpumps dominate the centre of the bar, and on a June 2008 visit these were London Pride, Black Sheep Bitter (£3.20/pint), Greene King Ale Fresco, and Old Rosie scrumpy. There are lagers, but they are dispensed from identical stainless steel draught taps, so it's difficult to tell what they are (but a fairly standard range one imagines).

Downstairs are several large solid tables, and about five smaller round ones which are a little too short for the chairs. Outside are a few more tables, on the street. There's also the upstairs room, with its own bar. A room off the side of the bar has a pool table and leads to the toilets.

Time Out mentions food is served noon-9:30pm Monday to Friday, noon-8:30pm Saturday, and noon-5pm Sunday, but there wasn't much sign of any food on a Thursday evening visit (no menus, or other people eating), so probably best to double-check.

See also:

• Fancyapint review
• Time Out review

Powered by OpenGuides 0.83mod.
Site design adapted from the Creative Commons Licensed “Naturalist” by Darren Hester.

The textual content of this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence.