Star by Hackney Downs

This has been our local for over a year now, always friendly service and the staff couldn’t be more welcoming. we held our daughter’s 2^nd birthday upstairs at The Star last week and it was great, staff really made the effort with us. Food is great, good selection of drinks including local beers, nice sunny terrace and generally nice and quiet on a Saturday afternoon– perfect! Oh, and they have a dog wall of fame, so if you’re there with your pooch they may request a pic :)

The A board outside states «the best Sunday roast in london» Neneh Cherry. This must have been a review from last year when I also visited and the roast beef was delicious but I returned in march 2015 and was greeted with dirty drinks glasses poor service and a luke warm roast beef dinner which wouldn’t have been out of place in a hospital. Really disappointed as we had raved about the roast we had previously to our guests before treating them to lunch here.

We went to the Star for Sunday lunch having had a nice meal there previously. Unfortunately we were left very disappointed on this occasion. The staff were in a trance, taking an age to serve you at the bar. When the drinks were finally poured the glasses were filthy. We had ordered Sunday roasts which came cold. On complaining they were changed and came back slightly warmer but there was no apology whatsoever. Won’t be back.

The Star is your typical pub with a sense of humour and a eye for delicious food.
You might walk by this pub again and again, never stopping in, and truth be told, you wouldn’t be missing much that you couldn’t get from a million other pubs in the area. The beer selection is only OK, there’s plenty of seating downstairs and the staff are a mix of the happy to see you and the surly couldn’t give a flying hell you are there.
But this pub has a hint of weirdness, which I like.
Maybe it’s the carousel horse on the bar wearing three high heeled shoes (when I asked where they came from, I was told they were left at the bar. Three different individual shoes I might add, so three women drunkenly limped home, missing one side of footwear. Astounding.) Maybe it’s the close-​up portraits of people covering the doors on the way upstairs. Maybe it’s the circus-​style black and white striped private room on that second floor that feels right out of a fun-​house. Very strange, very cool.
They also do pop-​ups on the second floor where there’s a small area for a kitchen, everything from Big Apple Hot Dog to Randy’s Wing Bar. It changes often so you don’t know what it will be, but you do know it will be quality.
So walk by if you must. But if you stop in, you may catch just the hint of unusual from this unassuming bar, and it might be enough to make your night.

This pub has a prime location by the downs and is rather a nice place too. Unfortunately the food left more of an impression on me than their beer, as they only served GK IPA (Is Pretty Awful) and London Glory.
They offer Big Apple Hot Dogs. Their names are good for a laugh and they taste good too. I was adequately filled buy the Huge Pole I ordered. The pub do pizzas too.