Around 5,000 members of the capital’s Irish community live in Hackney but you can bet there’ll be a fair few more out in the streets tonight to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. So, which watering holes in the borough can boast the best craic?
We’ve planned out your evening’s drinking and, in all seriousness, you should take our advice. You don’t want to end up in an O’Neill’s, next to somebody who keeps telling you how their annual pint of Guinness is “like a meal”.
18:00 – 20:00: The Water Poet, Shoreditch
The Water Poet has established itself in the minds of many as the place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in East London, and not without fair reason. It’s made its name by putting on the most extensive annual celebration, with several days of live music, delicious food and innovative gimmicks like ‘Guinness Island’, a specially erected bar in the pub’s beer garden.
20:00 – 22:00: The Kingsland, Dalston
For all that’s to be said for the latter venue’s festivities, move on up the Kingsland Road and you’ll find something a little more authentic. This old haunt of Dalston’s Irish community is a traditional place with no thrills, spills or pigs’ hooves served on a roofing shingle.
All it offers is a friendly welcome and the knowledge that the lads on the snooker table will probably still be there tomorrow. It’s a simple reminder that a good drink tastes just as refreshing without a clover in the foam.
22:00 – 00:00: Auld Shillelagh, Stoke Newington
It’s getting late for Tuesday, you’re beginning to get a bit bleary-eyed and you’ve lost count of how many grown men in leprechaun costumes you’ve seen vomiting into their novelty hats, but you’d still like the round the night off properly.
Go to Auld Shillelagh. Packed into a tight corner on Church Street in Stoke Newington, this long and skinny establishment is regularly touted as one of East London’s liveliest nights out. If you head there tonight, be sure to visit the surprisingly spacious beer garden and sample what some say is the best drop of the black stuff this side of the Irish Sea.
