Way back in early 2005 I used to wander past the derelict building on the Pembury Roundabout where Dalston Lane meets Amhurst and Pembury Road and think, “that’s a fantastic site” or “that would make a great pub”. Indeed it used to be a bar that hosted live bands and was home to local anarchists. Lo and behold slowly hoardings went up and builders moved in. Frantic internet research revealed a licensing application submitted to Hackney council for a bar. Hooray, thought we, and eagerly peered in the windows monitoring progress, (as it happened progress was phenomenally slow).
Nonetheless we somehow missed opening night but turned up the following weekend armed with greasy bank notes ready for the fun…..….and I hated it. Inside something was horribly amiss, there was a huge imposing old wood bar but the rest was an exposed emptiness of All Bar One proportions. There was no music, no smoking, no food, no customers and no atmosphere. We determinedly stayed and had a couple of drinks which were cheap and well chosen, the bar specialises in Real Ales, hundreds of them. I went away feeling as if an opportunity had been missed.
Now, however, through perseverance I am a convert! Slowly, as time went by, changes for the better sneaked in: pictures and maps of historic Hackney and a collection of beer mats from round the world went up on the walls, bigger comfier chairs appeared along with board games, puzzles, a huge pile of newspapers and magazines. And so the customers had also appeared and suddenly the lack of music didn’t seem to matter any more. Now the Pembury Tavern has been well and truly claimed by the white middle classes of Hackney as their own. London’s diversity never seems to quite make it into pub culture which is odd, but the subject of a whole other post.
Best of all was the appearance of menus and a kitchen - and the food is superb. It’s a traditional British style menu: scrambled eggs and salmon for breakfast, sausage and mash for lunch, roast meat and two veg followed by apple pie and ice-cream for dinner, all perfectly executed (although eating that every day would result in extreme fatness).
Now, however, through perseverance I am a convert! Slowly, as time went by, changes for the better sneaked in: pictures and maps of historic Hackney and a collection of beer mats from round the world went up on the walls, bigger comfier chairs appeared along with board games, puzzles, a huge pile of newspapers and magazines. And so the customers had also appeared and suddenly the lack of music didn’t seem to matter any more. Now the Pembury Tavern has been well and truly claimed by the white middle classes of Hackney as their own. London’s diversity never seems to quite make it into pub culture which is odd, but the subject of a whole other post.
Best of all was the appearance of menus and a kitchen - and the food is superb. It’s a traditional British style menu: scrambled eggs and salmon for breakfast, sausage and mash for lunch, roast meat and two veg followed by apple pie and ice-cream for dinner, all perfectly executed (although eating that every day would result in extreme fatness).
Go visit once in a while, it’s certainly different; play cluedo, drink ale and eat pie. http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/
2 comments:
"Now the Pembury Tavern has been well and truly claimed by the white middle classes of Hackney as their own."
I don't agree with that - a mischarcterisation if ever I saw one. As far as I've seen the Pembury's clientele is reasonable diverse.
nowhere near as diverese as it's surrounding area though
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