Picture of Red Lion, E11 3AA

Historical version 8 of Red Lion, E11 3AA (view current version)

Antic pub in Leytonstone.

Located on Leytonstone High Road opposite the junction with Church Lane, the Red Lion has stood for over 300 years and been through many incarnations, the one prior to this being a South African bar called Zulus photo. With its acquisition by Antic and grand reopening on 15 June 2011, it has now returned to being a community local.

The pub cultivates a slightly rough aesthetic, with bare brick walls, exposed floorboards, and mismatched furniture (in the Antic house style). The space is big and open plan, and the lack of carpet or curtains means it gets quite noisy and in some seats can be hard to hear your friends.

They have an impressive selection of drinks — ten handpumps and five keg taps, usually with at least seven real ales on cask, often a real cider too, and three more ales on keg along with a cider and a lager. CAMRA members get a 10% discount on ale. Cask selections change every day or two and as of July 2011 have recently included Redemption Urban Dusk, Thornbridge Jaipur, Purity UBU and Brodies Amarilla. On Ewan's September 2011 visit, there was Purity Mad Goose and Pure Gold, Redemption Urban Dusk and Hopspur, Truman's Summer Runner, Magic Rock Curious, St Austell Tribute, an Otley beer and a couple of others.

Otherwise, there's the traditional fare of lagers and ciders on tap (including Brew Dog 5am Saint, and Meantime beers), but these are backed up by several interesting alternatives in bottles, including organic and single varietal ciders for example. There are a good range of spirits too, usually of a high quality — Hendricks gin for example — and even three tequilas!

On our visits, the kitchen facilities hadn't been completed (though they have now). Instead, they were offering pork pies and scotch eggs, and vegetarian versions of both ([Flash]?'s friend enjoyed the veggie scotch egg). They also had cashew nuts in jars, flavoured with either salt and pepper or chilli. This, as well as Furrows crisps, meant that we didn't go hungry.

[Flash]?'s verdict: Although it'd only been open a month when I visited, it was already establishing itself as the sort of place where you'll run into someone you know. Altogether, it's got off to a promising start, and is already attracting a good crowd through the doors. With the addition of noise-muffling drapes around the window it would be an even better venue.

See also:

Last visited by Ewan with Sam and Elly, September 2011.
OS X co-ord: 539477 OS Y co-ord: 187363 (Latitude: 51.567391 Longitude: 0.012642)
This is version 8 (as of 2012-03-14 06:46:59). View current version. List all versions.