CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

LONDON, GREATER - London E6, East Ham, Boleyn

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part Two

1 Barking Road, Upton Park, London E6, E6 1PW

Tel: 020 8472 2182

Opening Hours: 11 - 11 Mon - Sat 12 - 22 Sun

Draught Beer & Cider: Fullers London Pride

Public Transport: Underground: Upton Park

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

Beside West Ham’s football ground (avoid match days for your visit!), this is one of the more spectacular late-Victorian pubs in London. It was built in 1899-1900 in free Renaissance style to the designs of prolific pub architects Shoebridge & Rising. The interior is a tour de force. The names ‘saloon’ and ‘private bar’ are preserved in the door glass and there seem to have been two or three spaces termed ‘private bar’. The tiled corridor off Barking Road leads past one and there was a further, tiny one between this and the saloon behind. Over the saloon is a small skylight with lovely stained glass.

Beyond lies a spectacular billiard room with a much larger stained glass skylight and a coved frieze with abundant Florentine decoration. Other old features include the bar counter, cast-iron columns and lots of decorative glass although the servery back fitting is modern. An intriguing feature is a pair of very low doors in the stub of screening at the back of the saloon and in the screen between the saloon and private bar. Such doors allowed staff access between compartments but these are unusually low – either East Ham was populated by dwarves about 1900 or the pub relied on child labour!