In January I was incredibly fortunate to be given a tour of St Anne’s church, Limehouse designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Built the early 18th Century, St Anne’s is regarded as The Cathedral of the East End. The church is currently raising funds to restore this majestic church to its former glory and has an exhibition about Hawksmoor’s six London churches. Our tour around the church includes a visit to the crypt with the vaults of wealthy families of the maritime East End as well as some surviving relics of the Second World War.
The iconic Red Lion Leytonstone has re-opened under the ownership of Urban Pubs & Bars with an impressive refurbishment. Purchased from Antic in September 2024, who had recovered the Red Lion from its time as a South African themed pub called Zulus (I avoided the place during this period), Urban have added the Red Lion to their portfolio of 52 London pubs which also includes the recently acquired George & Dragon Wanstead.
There’s been an inn called the Red Lion, or Red Lyon, on the site since the 1670s. The image above shows the pub in the early 19th Century. The current building dates from 1870.
To be honest, I was a touch concerned about what Urban would do to my beloved Red Lion based on a brief visit to the George & Dragon at Wanstead (I really need to go back for a proper look). But all my fears were assuaged, and the reported £1 million refurb is absolutely spot on. They’ve retained what made the main section of the pub work well but improved the seating, particularly around the perimeter of the room. There are ample screens showing live sport. The bar looks really impressive.
But the highlight has to be what they’ve done with the garden and the old ‘stables’ bar, which is truly impressive. Gone is the old dirt floor with scattered picnic tables, replaced by heated booths, a covered area, and screens. The back room ‘stable’ is a comfortable bar with screens for live sport. It was also great to see the staff so happy in the new place.
I’ve yet to see the new ballroom upstairs, host to many legendary gigs in the 60s and 70s, but I’m told it matches the standard of the other areas of the pub. We had a roast at the weekend which was decent, although I wouldn’t say was an improvement on the old Antic Red Lion and the roast at the Leytonstone Tavern is better (I recently had an incredible roast at The Queens, Crouch End for around the same price so that’s become the comparison).
After all this praise I have one small gripe. There’s a distinct lack of cask ale. So far there’s only been one cask ale on tap on my recent visits and that has run out on one occasion and on Saturday there was no cask at all. Keg beers (IPAs, lagers etc) come in at over £7+ a pint which is a bit steep for Leytonstone I feel, £5.50 a pint for cask is acceptable. But it’s following a local trend where some of the businesses are charging central London prices (local coffee shops are often more expensive than similar central London establishments). We don’t want to see the diverse range of locals that use the Red Lion priced out of this brilliant boozer.
The City of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell – Tudor London walk
Back in November I picked up a copy of the fascinating 1520 map of Tudor London, from the Charterhouse, which is featured on the map (you can also purchase these from St Bartholomew the Great, included in part 2 of this series). One Sunday afternoon I ventured out into the City of London using the map as my guide to see what traces of Tudor London I could find on the street. The walk in this video starts at the Tower of London and the Roman wall then goes past All Hallows by the Tower, along Seething London to Hart Street and Crutched Friars. At Aldgate we pass the Aldgate Pump and walk down Leadenhall Street and visit Leadenhall Market site of the Roman Forum and Basilica. Our walking tour ends at Throgmorten Street, site of the Thomas Cromwell’s mansion.
I sit at a table at the very back of my local Spoons. I have my notebook, the latest copy of London Archaeologist and Virginia Woolf’sA Room of One’s Own. I check the football results on my phone and scroll the Apple News feed. I actually feel a bit rough and have spent the day in bed but I often use the pub as therapy – both physical and psychological. I’m trying not to get annoyed by the couple at the next table playing clips of awful Euro techno on their phones but shoot them a few glares. They stop for all of five minutes before carrying on. This is a lesson in acceptance. I try to place their language but fail which often means it’s either Portuguese or Hungarian. Then I embrace the cacophony that had broken out around me, a phone call through the speaker, someone’s playing games, a fella is spinning yarns stood over a table, music through phone speaker. I can’t even see what I’m typing anymore on the blogging app. I haven’t even listened back to the recording but it’s of the here and now.
This is a throwback to the early days of this blog when I would post photos from a booth from the Spoons on Farringdon Road 2004-05 excited by the possibilities that this new medium offered.
A day in Paris. Just one day. To be guided by my feet and senses. Arrive on the Eurostar walk all day and depart again from Gare du Nord. I can’t say I was completely without plans. I had three: – visit Re:Voir – see the new Notre Dame – walk – and only walk, no Metro or bus or Tram allowed – have a nice birthday lunch – so ok, that’s four plans.
On my way to Re:Voir I passed Rue du Château d’Eau, where I remember I stayed with my wife on my first trip to Paris, in 1997. I was returning from three years abroad and flew in to Paris from Delhi intent on arriving back in England on the Eurostar which had started running after I’d left the country in 1994. I stood outside Hotel Pacific and the years rolled back and there we were in the summer of 1997 up in that room beside the hotel sign delighted to be back in Europe, downing cans of cold Kronenbourg from the Reception vending machine, gulping down tap water, while ignoring the resident mouse.
Around the corner at Re:Voir I marvelled at the array of Super 8 cameras, had a nice chat with the fella behind the counter and walked away with DVD OF Jonas Mekas’ The Sixties Quartet.
I discovered new passages to me at Passage Ponceau and Passage du Grand Cerf and thought of Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project as I always do, but now with the added context of Dan Hancox’s great FT article on Benjamin’s final journey across the Pyrenees.
Re:VoirPolidor
I lunched on Confit of Duck at Le Pave and then marvelled at the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral before my mandatory visit to Shakespeare and Co. From here I strolled up the hill to the Pantheon and back down again through the wine caves of the Left Bank, over Pont Neuf and just had time for a quick dinner by Gare du Nord before catching the last train back to London.
Back in August 2024 I collaborated with Compiler and sound artist Brigitte Hart on a walk along Leytonstone’s buried river Philley Brook (Fillebrook, Filly Brook) as part of their project Beneath Our Footsteps where local people engaged with the idea of the river. The walk and the project were a fascinating project and a great new way to highlight the presence of our lost river. An exhibition over four days took place at No.1 Church Lane Leytonstone that brought together some of the work generated by the project.
Text by Brigitte HartSound work by Brigitte Hart containing recordings of the Philley BrookFound objects near the Leytonstone source of the Philley BrookNear the Leytonstone source of the Philley BrookPrivate view Saturday 8th February 2025
