The Star of Kings, 9th February

If I was being generous, I would say, maybe Thursday just isn't the night to go to Star of King's. But this is quite damning really, because isn't Thursday the new Friday? So if a place isn't heaving on a Thursday, it's a little worrying. But it did also snow quite a bit so maybe that's what was putting people off...

I slightly inebriatedly asked the girl we'd befriended behind the bar if it gets busy at weekends. Her response was lukewarm so I suspect it doesn't really. It seems a shame. The Star of Kings is the sister pub of the Star of Bethnal Green, so I was expecting a fairly buzzy place go for my friend 'blind date'. Somewhere we could chat, but with a bit of an atmosphere. 

We could definitely chat, but the atmosphere was a little lacking. I liked the set up. The 'front room' was a big rectangle which had a hodge podge of different comfy chairs, including even a chaise longue, and the bar. Then there was a larger room at the back with normal tables and chairs, and even a downstairs where any dancing happens. Unfortunately only half the chairs in the front room were full, and none in the back. They played some good music - reminding me of their sister Star by playing retro 60s stuff but it wasn't enough.

The staff are also very friendly. They have happy hour from 5 - 9 in which they offer two for one cocktails. My friend turned up a little later than me, so we weren't in sync when it came to our rounds for a couple of drinks. She ordered a cocktail, but didn't really want them both at the same time. They let her order her one cocktail with other 'in the bank' as it were, so she could still capitalise on the deal. Not only that, but when she had finished her first cocktail, the guy came over and asked her if she was ready for her second one now. I could be mean and say with a dearth of customers they could afford to be so attentive, but let's pretend I didn't say that. They were fairly chatty - the bar girl even getting in on my drinkmate's attempts to coax me out longer, suggesting we go to Camden up the road where things were open longer. I was not drawn in though. 

So yeah, it was a nice pub, just not very lively. It's not exactly in the hub of things - it's all the way up York Road, past even King's place so people probably just don't really know it's there. Having said that, it is right next to the Guardian's offices, so there should be throngs of journos in there, not just the three I couldn't help but overheard when I first went in there. Disappointing.

Star of Bethnal Green, 28th January

So, it was early Saturday night and we were feeling good after our Hunanese. It was time to get into the Saturday night swing of things and imbibe some alcohol. I even had some cash left from my last paycheck burning a hole in my pocket – we could drink like kings!

We warmed up in a pub we recently discovered on Brewer Street called the The Glasshouse Stores. It’s a Sam Smith pub and does wheat beers which Stephen particularly likes. It was only about 8 pm and the pub was fairly busy but we still had a seat. It didn’t quite have as much atmosphere as we were looking for, and we ended up sitting by a draughty window so we decided to move on after two. On to the Star of Kings – somewhere we could get home from easily when we were half cut.

I’ve heard about this place as a bit of a hipster beacon in Bethnal Green but this was my first time venturing in. Stephen had been himself and said it was small. He was right. You walk in, and there is a room and in about ten moderate paces you can get to the bar directly in front of you, which also doubles as the back of the room. But there is an upstairs. We perched on a small table right by the raised DJ area and consumed our drinks. As the night wore on, more and more tables were removed from around us, and taken up the stairs. The music got a bit louder, the hipsters got a bit drunker, and dancing began in fits and starts until people were around the DJ and on the floor in front of us. You couldn’t blame them – the music was fantastic. Earlier on they had been playing fairly standard, ear-pleasing house music. But by the time the night really got going, they had moved on to 60s soul and r’n’b. Sweet Soul Music, closely followed by Soul Man – well you just can’t go wrong. I actually didn’t venture upstairs but Stephen checked it out and said that it resembled the downstairs circa 9 pm in atmosphere – ie you went upstairs to sit, downstairs to dance.

We, however, stubbornly bucked this trend, continuing to sit and drink while people danced around us. I was tempted on more than once occasion to get up, but we just weren’t drunk enough to ‘be out dancing’ as a couple. It was enough fun to drunkenly chat and hipster-watch. I can't be too scathing about hipsters - I am practically one myself except for the way I dress and act. But I do draw the line at ordering double Baileys as my drink of choice when I'm out on the piss (yes, I witnessed one floppy haired gentleman order just this. Two hours later and he was still on the same drink.). We left at around 11:30 to get a cheeky McDonald’s and the last tube home.