The Castle

Another place I love right by my house. It has been completely renovated and is now clean and cozy. In fact it has become my regular watering hole. The staff is great and drink prices are fair. Music is usually good and the crowd is always great.

My old local. from the looks of it now… The Castle will be sold soon and probably not around much longer. I was back in London E1 so I visited it this month for the first time in 6 years. They are only open Tuesday to Saturday and when they were no locals or anybody there. The Castle is even more rundown now and looks like the owners are just waiting to sell it off to posh condo developers. I did get a proper pint o Guinness and the music was Iggy all nite, so that was worthwhile. Sat on the familiar 30 year old leather sofas and cut myself on a table nail somehow. Goodbye Castle.

The Castle or as my friends and I have nicknamed it «The Dodgy Place» which later became shortened to «The Dodgy» and then simply «Dodgy?» is OK at best.
This is the type of bar you end up in because you don’t want to push a night out to the next level but at the same time want a few extra drinks. Thus why I end up here from time to time.
I have never had a problem with the staff they have always been pleasant to everyone (so far as I have seen).
The Castle is mainly populated by three groups:
–Student types who presumably cannot afford to go anywhere else
–Patrons wanting a few extra drinks at the end of a night out and can’t find anywhere else in the area
–People passing through before going on to other venues
I have never gone here during the day and have absolutely no desire to although I live a stones throw away.
Without question The Castle will be demolished/​changed in a few years due to the new high rise apartments for city workers and overseas investors being constructed around the Aldgate East/​Aldgate area. This will result in an influx of a different class of clientele to the area. So if you feel the need to visit I would do it soon.
The Castle is worth a visit if you:
a) Can’t find anywhere else open to go in the area at a late time
b) Don’t want to be judged because your group is very merry
c) Simply want to feel like an East London hipster

Great for a good dancing session, every night there is a crowd and a good beat! Stays open ’til early morning which is what every party-​lover loves and they only charge £1 entry!

Ok Unilocalrechauns, riddle me this:
You’re in east London running late, you need fast and free WiFi immediately, and — let’s be honest now — some cheap red wine. Oh… and it’s St Patrick’s Day, so you need a place that isn’t heaving with twats. Where do you head?
Aldgate East, loved ones. Aldgate East. The Castle provided all of the above with a smile and a sexy Irish accent to boot.
Sultry black walls, £9 bottles of red wine, über chill service, 60s classics blaring over the speakers = best Paddy’s Day celebration to date. It’s the kind of bar everyone wishes they could call their local.

Spacious bar with three people inside at 7pm on a Wednesday night. The barman pours a pint of Guiness and a Magners. It costs £6. Radiohead is playing over the sytem. It isn’t long before I start feeling really sad. Man on a scooter drives by, probably hears the music and decides life just isn’t worth it because he crashes.
This bar has everything a bar should, enough places to sit, plenty of draught beers, spirits, TV screens and free wifi.
I’d drink here again, but only as long as Radiohead wasn’t playing.

No proper beer and full of bohemian studenty types trying to out-​nonchalant each other. Not a fan.

Spent a lot of time at this pub, since I lived across the street. No food, just crisps, friendly locals, and affordable drinks. Parties go on all nite long on the weekends. secret pool table room upstairs.

This place is affectionately known by its fans as «The People’s Republic of The Castle» and seemed for many years to be an old pub taken over by squatters and run as a 24 hour pub. My visit at 3am last Saturday showed me that they have cleaned the place up but it still contains the suggestion of counterculture and anything goes clientele. There were two very committed DJs with an array of other technology putting together a set of ‘bleep-​funk’ and acid house that matched the eclectic crowd of soap dodgers and ghetto fabulous punters rubbing shoulders.
In essence, you don’t go here for the beer, you go here to continue whatever you had been doing and meet some weird and wonderful people. Having come to London at the tail end of the warehouse party scene, this pub, despite the occasional odour, is reminiscent of that time and I love it just for being here and doing it’s thing!

This probably sounds like another of my inexplicable comparisons but this place really feels like the kind of bar/​pub you get in a youth hostel. I think this was partly to do with the people, some of whom almost looked like they were kicking back in their living room. One girl was being eaten alive by a sofa. Quite a few people seemed to locals who knew the friendly Aussie bartender. You wouldn’t guess it was like this from the outside.
Drinks. Apart from a scattering of bottles in the fridge there was no sign of any ale. They did have a fair few lagers. I would say more than necessary but as more than half of them were off when I visited they might need that many taps. They have regular cheap booze offers. Has a TV for sports.
Not really my kind of pub. This is the bar in the area for a late one, it’s open till 5 or 6 in the morning on Friday and Saturday. I’m not sure what it’s like at that time of night, but I’m sure it’s a preferable option to a club or sleeping on a bench in a station because you missed your last train. At that time of night there is less choice, so it would deserve a higher rating at that time probably.

great boozer. friday and saturdays its open until 6am and they have DJs playing all sorts of stuff. Great mix of clientele also, weird and wonderful characters. Prices are pretty good aswell. 5stars

I went here last Friday night and it was crazy. It’s like being in my old local back in Ireland. everyone chats to eachother as if you know them, the drinks are very reasonably priced considering the substantial measures they give, and it is completely random. It is really different from everywhere else in the east end; not at all posery/​full of arty types. Its such a good laugh. The toilets are very strange in that there is only one of each mens and womens, and they are in the middle of a main room.
I will definitaly be back, we stayed ’til about 5.30 a. m and didn’t even begin to get bored, I recommend!

I first became acquainted with The Castle when my flatmate discovered its name and address on a list of East London wifi spots. Once the Idea Store closed and I still required web access I trundled off to The Castle and, over a pair of pints, tried to get myself a bit more settled in. I haven’t been back since then, but I can’t really say why. I ride my bike past it daily and have very fond memories. It’s a lovely little pub, perfect at afternoons when the light streams in its many windows. Music is kept low and conversation is an option, the clientele are quite mixed and not adherent to any particular scene. It’s the kind of unobtrusive place that one would like to make their local, knowing that by doing so they would erode its open-​door charm, and thus decide against it. I will sneak back their someday, with or without my laptop, and test to see if my theory holds.

The two times I visited the Castle I had the sort of rollercoaster London party nights you just can’t plan for. The actual venue isn’t that special — the normal bar with function room upstairs caper. There are the drinks you expect to get everywhere with dance DJs spinning tunes — but no big names or cover charges. You know the score: drinks-​a-​flowing, meetings with old friends you didn’t expect, improvised dancefloors in the queue for the bogs, crowds spilling out onto the street with taxis driving over broken glass and beeping, people just maintaining that ‘party at all costs’ attitude. Suffice to say, I liked the mood in the Castle on a hot summer’s Saturday night /​Sunday morning. What it feels like on a wet Monday afternoon in December is another matter.

Real nice two floor pub right at the end of Brick Lane, great for big groups as it has quite big space upstairs. Mostly plays indie-​rock or some electro the usual music in here. Opens till about 5am so if you ever catch yourself on brick lane with nothing to do this is a likely place to start… well finish! Bar prices are good as well but its fairly keep to your own group in here but a generally friendly «buzz» in here.

This pub is essentially an extension of Brick Lane, though it does have the added bonus of being a relative unknown meaning that when you come here you don’t automatically feel like you’ve gotta have an attitude. The décor is warm and friendly, lots of rough wood and comfy chairs, and this is reflected in the staff who are pleasant and chatty.
One of the best things about this place is that they often stay open until 5am so it’s always a good bet when you’re struggling to find a place that’s open. Set over two floors the bottom is dedicated to drinking whilst the upstairs hosts the DJ and dance space. Depending on the evening you’ll be treated to indie-​rocky-​alternative or some dirty electro. I’ve personally not heard much bad music here.
You won’t be ripped off as drinks are not overly pricey and in good quantity.

Relativement bizarre mais sympa de par le fait que c’est un pub ouvert jusqu’a 5h du matin. On y rencontre plein de gensm tout le monde se parle, il y a une tres bonne ambiance et les verres sont tres bon marche.
On va en general chercher notre petit dejeuner a brick lane dans la première cafet’ qui ouvre et on attend le premier metro.
Il y a aussi un DJ qui officie pour mettre de l’ambiance mais je né pense pas que ce soit vraiment necessaire, il y a deja un tel souk que l’on s’entend a peine!!!

This is a great place to go for a cheap boozy night. Don’t expect anything too fancy cause you won’t find it here, this is a cheap old style boozer, but if you walk in with the right frame of mind you’ll enjoy yourself. There are deals galore to be had, bottles are ridiculously cheap, with regular pints cheap as well. There are some comfy old sofas around which are good for an afternoon chinwag, with pool tables up the stairs if you fancy a game, and darts but these are so close to a doorway it’s not worht risking it. The toilets are very cramped in the mens and are generally rank but you get what you pay for in this game and you will find a tenner will get you a long and boozy night in here. Not the place for a first date mind…

An old style pub, which does not seem to have changed in years. There is a mixed clientele of locals, city types and students. Comfy chairs at the back and a lit fire in the colder months makes for a very cosy sit-​down, though it can get busy later. Alcohol is cheap at about £7 for a bottle of wine and deals on bottled beer. There are pool tables upstairs and darts at a slightly precarious place near a doorway. Toilets are not the nicest and cleanest you can come across but serves the purpose.