Bricklayers Arms

The Bricklayers Arms on Charlotte Street in Shoreditch is one of those places that is always full, yet is unremarkable enough to make you question its popularity. The décor and layout are nothing to write home about - slightly battered furniture, an upstairs “restaurant” and that symbol of faux conviviality, the jukebox- an uninspiring selection of drinks, although they do have San Miguel on draft, and pop music that sometimes blares a bit too loudly for you to have a comfortable conversation. So why is it packed night after night? Because it is excellently positioned in London’s trendiest party area, home to media companies and nightclubs galore, where any pub save for the very unlucky will do well after 5pm. Much criticism has been levelled at the Bricklayers for losing some of its cool in recent years, and perhaps some of its boho edge has disappeared (or gone to Stoke Newington), but short of growing stilts and migrating to somewhere un-gentrified there is little it can do about its credibility. Instead we have a simple boozer in the heart of Shoreditch that isn’t pretending to be anything else. If it’s a Long Island Iced Tea you’re after, go to a cocktail bar, and if you want to eat something other than re-heated Pad Thai go to a proper restaurant. Come to the Bricklayers if you want a pint of Fosters, a chat and earache-inducing Bon Jovi records.

A really down-to-earth place compared to the rest of the cool Hoxton scene, the Bricklayers Arms is the place for an unpretentious nevertheless stylish crowd, normally in their mid-to-late-20s. This old-style pub is popular as a place to have a couple of drinks, to start the evening, before you head off elsewhere.