A guide to East London's most underrated neighbourhood: Bow
During one of many number 8 bus journeys between Shoreditch High Street and Old Ford Road, I thought about how Hackney, Bethnal Green and Dalston tend to dominate discussions of East London and somewhere like Bow was underrated. But for all that Bow can be dismissed it’s my favourite East End neighbourhood.
Bordered by three parks, two canals and a river, Bow is busy, and noisy, and seems like just a place to pass through to Bethnal Green, Victoria Park or Hackney Wick. But it’s a busyness and noisiness I love to hate and I’m never just passing through. And while I love East London, when it’s a bit up its a*se with trends, Bow offers much-needed grounding.
Coffee, brunch & lunch
Roman Road is where you can find cafés for brunch and lunch, one of the best bakeries in East London and one of the holiest libations: coffee.
Breadery
Every weekend morning should begin with a coffee and a cardamom bun from Breadery. The hole-in-the-wall bakery also sells deliciously chewy sourdough loaves and moreish pastries – cinnamon buns, almond pain au chocolate, pistachio croissants and savouries to name but a few. Take a coffee and a pastry on a stroll through nearby Victoria Park. In short, Breadery is a neighbourhood spot where regulars’ favourite orders are remembered.
Mae + Harvey
One of the few cafés where the weekend queue is worth it but as an early bird I never really have to worry about waiting. It’s a bright corner spot on Roman Road with plenty of windows lighting up a homely interior of cream walls and a modest amount of tiling and house plants.
Brunch or lunch, sweet or savoury, you’ll find the day’s menu written on brown paper on the wall. The fare at Mae + Harvey is always fresh, delicious and just hits the spot. It’s the neighbourhood spot you go to for a comforting meal after being on holiday.
Jungle Electric
Genuinely one of the most welcoming places in London. Located on Roman Road, Jungle Electric is an independent coffee shop, vegan café and vintage shop with an alcohol license, £7 cocktails and regular live music. This LGTBQ+ neighbourhood spot is the epitome of cosy with funky and down-to-earth touches in the décor (I expect nothing less given the vintage shop).
I’ve taken my work and many a lunch break here, propped up against their many cushions. You will always be greeted warmly, the vegan menu is top-notch (and I’m not vegan) and the guys who run the place are just the loveliest people in Bow. The icing on the cake: it’s dog-friendly.
Zealand Café
Also known as Zealand Road Coffee, this is another cosy neighbourhood corner spot on Roman Road and your all-day breakfast destination. It’s where you go in Bow for a full English breakfast (I love the golden hashbrowns). Its interior is humble and simple and as comfy as you like. When the weather is agreeable, take one of the few tables outside, otherwise people watch from a table inside. They do a real velvety oat flat white.
The Nunnery Café
In a concrete forest of residential streets, tucked away down Bow Arts Lane is the Nunnery Gallery and its café. Words cannot do justice to how much I love this humble café. Wooden floors, a little art displayed on the walls, locally-made cakes, pastries, savoury fare and HeySister Coffee. It may not have the full kitchen of South London Louie but I rate them the same for ambience and being places you want to spend hours within, reading, writing, and catching up. The best part? On Thursday evenings the café turns into a listening bar – more importantly, a listening bar I’m not priced out of.
Dining
Bow isn’t brimming with choice and that’s not a criticism – I would argue that often too much choice is debilitating. This is not a neighbourhood where there’s something for everybody. Beyond the brunch and lunch cafés, you’ve got takeaways, pub fare, a wine bar, a sushi bar and a world-class chippy.
Chipping Wharf
Located on Old Ford Road and neighbours with old man pub, the Eleanor Arms (more on that below), Chipping Wharf is always busy (as it should be!) – the cod fish and chips, while not the cheapest, is one of the most generous portions of fish and chips I’ve ever eaten – it’s filled my belly before many a night out and equally treated many a hangover. They also do a mean cod burger and the fresh lemon and tartar sauce are welcome when I normally just go in for salt, vinegar and plenty of ketchup.
Ona’s Bento Sushi Bar
Dated orient-esque font in baby blue displays the name Ona’s Bento Sushi Bar – and I love it. It’s a little spot on Roman Road dishing up Japanese comfort eats – sushi, bento, katsu curry, donburi, ramen and mochi. Do not underestimate Ona’s just because it doesn’t have the sleek minimalist Japanese décor found elsewhere in London. Like the rest of Bow, Ona’s is unpretentious – the family-run spot is unfussy, offering tasty, lovingly made dishes.
G Kelly
Original tiling and Formica-like tabletops topped with bottles of vinegar and salt and pepper shakers. This is a long-standing, reasonably priced East End pie and mash shop on Roman Road. Once upon a time, places like G Kelly epitomised East London, where ordering jellied eels was a common occurrence rather than a nostalgic experience or a curious novelty. It’s the kind of place that sadly feels like it can now only exist in a place like Bow – a place with few swanky bars or eateries.
People’s Wine
I’m not averse to wine or cocktail bars, I am averse to chains that depersonalise and care more about trends than neighbourhood. But People’s Wine owner Philippe Polleux is no stranger to Roman Road and he understands there is an underserved evening market in the neighbourhood. With People’s Wine, there’s no place for criticism when Polleux just wants a neighbourhood spot to share the food and wine he loves.
Pubs
There’s no congregation of pubs in Bow, if you want to taste all the neighbourhood has to offer you’re gonna have to crisscross the neighbourhood from Old Ford Road down to Bow Road and everything in between and on the sides.
The Bow Bells
I have rarely been in this pub sober but I love it just as much when I’m off the booze. It’s a lively, old-school boozer with a wonderfully drag makeover as London’s drag queens hold court here, from karaoke to quizzes, it’s always a good time – think Victorian interiors, floral carpets, and a pool table crowned by a disco ball. It’s a neighbourhood spot with a good mix of young and old folks. I’ve met London transplants like myself and older generations who’ve lived in Bow their entire lives and I like that mix of people and stories.
Young Prince Beer Garden
You could easily walk past this pub on Roman Road, it’s an old man’s pub, long and narrow with a beer garden brimming with greenery and flowers that you just don’t expect from the pub when viewing it from the outside. Sport on the telly, bar stools topped with red velvet cushions, a timber-framed ceiling, and lots of old photographs and china plates on the walls. I love it.
Lord Morpeth
Located on Old Ford Road and just minutes from the Gunmakers Gate entrance to Vicky Park, the Lord Morpeth offers tasty pizzas, a darts board, a projector screen for when the football is on, and it’s always a good place for a catch-up pint and a sourdough pizza.
The Eleanor Arms
This old-school pub on Old Ford Road is open at weekends and – typical of old-man pubs – has great live jazz on a Sunday evening. It’s one of my favourite pubs in the East End, it feels a bit like a time capsule and, as mentioned in my blog on the best old man pubs of the East End, every time I’m in I feel like I’m in an episode of Only Fools and Horses.
The Green Goose
The Green Goose is tucked away on a residential street where you least expect to find it, considering Bow pubs are usually found on Old Ford, Roman and Bow roads. As you can imagine being stranded in a residential sea, it’s a local spot and dishes up pub fare favourites. It’s a no-fuss no-frills joint – like much of Bow – and I especially like it for an afternoon pint.
The Little Driver
Popular on match day during West Ham home games, the Little Driver is a bit of a room divider for some, either they don’t like football-centric pubs or feel that Craft Union’s management is somehow ruining it – Craft Union also operate beloved Hackney pub the Globe, so I take that criticism with a pinch of salt. Regardless, it’s a long-standing local bar and like the Bow Bells, it feels like such a landmark of the neighbourhood that I’d be remiss not to mention it.
Parks
If you count the Olympic Park (which does have some greenery along the River Lea), then that makes a Bow a peninsula surrounded by a sea of green on three sides.
Mile End Park & Regent’s Canal
On the western border of Bow is Mile End Park. Stroll through and pop by the Palm Tree for a pint (it’s a cash-only boozer, mind!) or meander north along Regent’s Canal and enter Victoria Park.
Victoria Park, Hertford Union Canal & the River Lea
Victoria Park borders the northern part of Bow. One of my favourite places to walk is along the Hertford Union Canal, which separates Vicky Park and Old Ford Road, into Hackney Wick where the canal joins the River Lea. Or you can walk in the opposite direction until the Hertford Union joins Regent’s Canal and head into London Fields, then Haggerston, all the way to Angel.
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