From Liverpool Street: take the Bishopsgate exit from the station and cross over immediately. Turn left and take the third right into Brushfield Street heading toward Spitalfields Market. The pub is about two minutes walk on the right hand side. From Aldgate and Aldgate East: turn left out of the station and carry on until you reach Commercial Street (it's just next to Aldgate East). Turn left and Brushfield Street is about 5-10 minutes walk up the street. Turn left into Brushfield Street and the pub is on the next corner on the left.
Street View - click to see the area around the Gun
Many pubs in the Spitalfields area are reinventing themselves as "Bohemian" bars with crappy furniture, louder than usual music, candles, foreign sounding menus, Smirnoff Ice and all that. Thankfully, this pub has stuck to its Guns and presents itself as that increasingly hard to find venue - the traditional boozer. It's a regulars' pub, with blokes (mostly) from the offices nearby being ably catered for with decent beer - Broadside, Bombardier, IPA and Deuchars on the hand pumps - food and service with the occasional sporting event on the telly. The upstairs restaurant seems to do a roaring trade at lunchtimes - and the Masons used to meet here, which makes the place all the more interesting.
reviewed: 10/07/2009
pub features:(click on an icon to see an explanation)
posted by disgruntled - Thursday 2nd July, 2009, 5:37pm
Had much the same experience. Tried to have a couple of quiet drinks after work with some friends. After a poor initial experience with the bargirl ('I'm really bored, don't bother me' expression) I tried to return a pint that had lipstick around the edge. I was told loudly by the owner that I was just being a pain in the ar*e and embarassed in front of other customers.
I'm a bloke so I suggest that the lipstick mark wasn't mine!! I'm certainly not going back. To compound it, the same bargirl gave me a smug look as if to say, "Well? What can you do about it?"
posted by linguinigenie - Monday 3rd March, 2008, 12:45pm
What a guessing game this place is.
Last Thursday the staff rang the bell at 10:30 for last orders (which they at first said was just a joke) and then after ten minutes told us to stop playing pool. I enquired why they were shutting early and the East European girl smiled smugly and said they were a Free House and could do what they liked.
Okay so they're a Free House, but I pointed out that there's a certain expectation for customers to be able to drink until 11pm in a pub on a weekday.
She said they didn't have enough customers (about 20) to stay open. The diminutive Italian bar girl then started swearing at us in Italian. We were ordered to leave the premises at 10:45.
As we left the staff started pulling pints for a lock in.
This could be a great pub in good hands, I especially like the paintings of early European tanks and armoured cars in the pool table area. Shame about the random, irrational 'screw you' behaviour of the staff.
click for directions to The Gun from wherever you are
real ale, guest beers
Sky TV
pool table
separate restaurant
