Commercial Tavern

No pub should be able to offer repeat doses of surly service and get away with it but somehow we can’t help but retain a soft spot for The Commercial Tavern. On every visit you run the gauntlet of getting sneer with your order but thanks to the landlords this is the way it has always been and if you can laugh it off as eccentricity then you can enjoy the other features of what is one of the area’s best pubs.

From the cartoon wallpaper in the bar to the small stage on the ground floor, The Commercial Tavern has its odd features. There was also the pool table in the back that never quite fit in, the general darkness that consumes it and some racy prints on the upstairs furniture. It may look like a grand old gin palace on the corner of Commercial Street but once inside you’ll quickly change your impression of the type of pub you’ve just walked into. The eclectic (and stylish) furniture, opulent chandeliers and bare stripped walls across the two floors will help see to that.

The downstairs bar is where all the action is but if you want some respite from the hip, dim parlour below then head upstairs for the first floor bar where seats, space and light are easier to come by. Music is loud enough to nod along to but nothing more than an accompaniment to pub chat and yet the place is always lively. Pavement drinking is catered for with a few tables out the front, although lack of seats never stops the street overflowing with drinkers when the sun is out.

To drink, the bar has a range of small brewery beers from Freedom to Meantime and the usual stock of spirits. There is no food here and less you want the kind of smouldering surliness mentioned in the opening sentence, don’t ask. Some people won’t be able to look past the frequent rudeness at The Commercial Tavern but for us the pantomime act doesn’t detract too much from a fine Shoreditch/Spitalfields pub.