Results tagged “The Grapes”

A man was arrested following a suspected arson at an address yards away from Ian McKellen's pub The Grapes.

The police and fire brigade were called to Barleycorn Way in Poplar at 5am on Tuesday morning after reports a fire had started. The property was evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The Grapes in Limehouse will not be transformed into an establishment for luvvies or a gay bar following its takeover by Sir Ian McKellan and his two business partners.

Speaking at the media launch of the venue last night, Sir Ian said he wanted to reassure the regulars that the pub would remain much the same as it always had.

Hollywood actor and Limehouse resident Sir Ian McKellen has long harboured an ambition to open a little tea shop.

This month, in partnership with his old friend the theatre director Sean Mathias and Evening Standard chairman and one-time owner of Sake No Hana Evgeny Lebedev, he took over historic pub The Grapes in Narrow Street instead.

Click here for factfiles of the local haunts in the 2010 Good Beer Guide

If you're a real ale lover, this particular stretch of the Thames hasn't always been seen as a beacon of pint-related pleasure.

Aside from the Grapes in Limehouse and the North Pole in Manilla Street, the E14 postcode is often no more than a footnote in Camra's extensive Good Beer Guides.

WHEN they were bright eyed and bushy tailed, they mingled with the stars.

And for one night a year, the bunnies of London's Playboy club gather to share those memories in a cosy Limehouse pub.

The North Pole is a new entry in the Good Beer Guide - but what happened to The Grapes?

BEER lovers will be staggering to The North Pole this winter.

The Campaign for Real Ale has included the Manilla Street pub in its 2009 Good Beer Guide, which is released today (Thursday).

But the guide’s designated drinkers have not included The Grapes, the riverside Limehouse haunt, due to an administrative error.

The North Pole is one of 72 new entries in the 36th edition of the tome of tipples, which lists the 4,500 best ale pubs in Britain.

Click here for Ben Broomfield's photo gallery of this year's Narrow Street Fete

THE RIPPED regulars of The Grapes flexed their muscles in the Narrow Street Fete's battle of the bars on Bank Holiday Monday.

The Narrow Street pub put down their pints to pull their way to victory for the second year running in the annual tug of war with neighbouring bar Booty's. The win gives The Grapes a 2-1 lead in the series, which is a highlight of the yearly community-run fete.