Discovering Hackney: The Royal Oak

73 Columbia Road, London, E2 7RG

I have to be greatful to @wildebees for a certain range of stuff, but introducing me to this pub is definitely not the lesser of them – at all. A really nice eastern London pub deprived of most of the trendiness that brings my opinion down some times in that hood, but also keeping some character on it. I’ve just came from it and believe my friend, after a knackering weekend in Reading including a crazy tequila Sunday night at the Purple (remember that pub crawl? It seems like ages ago...) and an early return to London on early Monday morning straightaway to the office, it is just what I needed.

Columbia Road is located in Tower Hamlets borough and it is quite famous in London because of it Sunday’s Flower Market. There are also plenty of shops on the high street that at some point may make you think you are in Central London, surrounding Carnaby Street or any other big shopping spot. Not at all, and you will discover so as soon as you pay a careful look to the stuff they sell: overprized, maybe, but good quality and rare sometimes. A nice road to explore if looking for a different present to give away to someone you care about.

Sunday's flower market

Obviously, East London, as a friend told me once, is now the real Central London. Meaning this that the are may not be particularly nice, but it is full of people with good money on their pockets and, even more importantly, willing to spoil themselves. As a result, do not expect to pay less than 3.50 for a drink in The Royal Oak – being this its main and only flaw. But the pub is worth it, trust me. For a stack of reasons, including…

First, it looks like one of these old pubs which has been kept and preserved nicely for a long time. Apparently it's in a between-the-wars style, but it really fits perfectly well with the Victorian surroundings... that is in the outside. In the inside, it is not that it looks (or smells) old – it is that you may spot this or that little pieces of furniture or decoration that indicate you that attention to detail is something the owner reckons his patrons value the most. You may spot old pictures and paintings altogether with new adds in like origami birds hung all around the place.

The vibe over there is really friendly – all professionals on their thirties looking for a nice conversation after work, but with the eastern flavour. Do not expect ties and suits here, but neither the sort of annoying arts student on his early twenties with such a big hunger for reaping the word apart. Just young common people looking for a little corner of enjoyment.

The drinks are quite standard: Guinness, Becks, John Smiths, Peroni… the usual suspects. The also serve a warm wine called ‘mulled wine’ – I had tried something similar in Germany, but not here in the UK. I quite liked it, although it is strong and expensive too… and not completely sure if they serve it through the year or just on the winter period. Food is apparently good enough - although I have to say I haven't tried it so far.

Music is nice, but at a fairly low volume. Again, this is a place for nice conversations, not for big clubbing nights or binge drinking. Still, I’ve read somewhere that clubbing nights on the weekends are big here – I cannot say, as I have just visited it twice, and both times were Tuesdays.

The structure of the pub is a square-shaped bar, with several tables surrounding it (quite busy all of them all the time) and most of the people taking advantage of the large bar to drink some good stuff. Not very big, and because of that and because it is quite popular it is better to avoid it on Thursdays, as it gets packed.

Definitely, a brilliant pub I will hopefully become a frequent patron of.