travel tips
The Crown pub, London
I came to London as one of the 9flats team in order to meet some of our London hosts. Apart from the host meet-up, I had London friends to catch up with in the evenings and met one at a gastro-pub called The Crown in Hackney in East London, just opposite Victoria Park.
This part of London used to not be a desirable area to live in, with tower blocks surrounding it and crime problems. Some years ago the tower blocks were demolished and replaced with council houses, improvements were made to the park (and are on-going as I write this) with concerts and other events held regularly there. Hackney has now become trendy with chi-chi shops, restaurants and bars springing up everywhere. It is now a very sought after area of London to live in.
My friend brought his dog along to the bar and this one small dog stole the show for the entire evening – no one passing our table was able to resist talking to her.
There is a small seating area outside with a view into the park, but as it was a little chilly we sat inside. The pub serves food and my meal was was served promptly by a friendly and helpful staff member.
Of course, once my food arrived on the table the dog took a sudden strong desire to sit on my lap, right in front of the plate. When I had finished my meal she moved onto her next victims, the people sitting beside us, who of course also fell in love with her and they too happily fed her little tid-bits from their plates.
If you want to visit this pub (with or without a small black dog!), you can walk down from Bethnal Green tube station on the central line, or get a bus from Mile End tube station.
THE CROWN, 223 Grove Road, Bow, E3 5SN, tel: 0044 (0)20 8880 7261
And, as always you will find our London listings on 9flats.com by simply searching for London, the dates you want to stay and choosing your price range.