The Angel of Bow has put together a week long East End Experience that takes in a Jack the Ripper walk, the UK’s oldest synagogue, and a night time tour of former gangster haunts.
Landlords at the independent pub in Devons Road added four upstairs B & B rooms last year and hope that guests will head out to explore the East End after a good night’s sleep and a full English breakfast.
After visiting the likes of the Neckstamper Brewery, the Jack the Ripper museum, or Roman Road and Columbia Road markets, they can return for a hearty Sunday carvery or afternoon tea, and a glass of the pub’s own Angel of Bow lager.
It’s not all about The Krays and the Ripper, the all inclusive experience also explores contemporary East End life with a Thames boat trip, tour of East End street art, visit to Westfield Stratford, and a drink in Sir Ian McKellen’s Limehouse pub The Grapes.
Evening entertainment ranges from an open mic night and live music to a tour of ‘Gangsters and their haunts,’ and a trip to famous East End pub The Palm Tree.
The pub dates back to 1938 and was previously known as The Bricklayers Arms, Kitsons, and The Liquor Inn.
Landlady Odette Gibson said: “We took it over in 2017 and it had been closed for a while.
“It had a bad reputation and we decided to rename it – I have no idea why, but the idea popped into my head to call it The Angel of Bow.
“I found out later from the vicar that they had so many problems with crime that his Bible class had prayed for angels to come to Devons Road.
“About a year later he saw the sign go up outside the pub and was absolutely astonished that his prayers had been answered!”
Odette and partner Paul funded an eight month refurb and today the pub has a quirky design with upcycled furniture, hanging baskets, and a pretty beer garden with street art murals.
Many of its ales hail from local breweries, while their cakes and food are all made in house.
“It’s been a labour of love,” says Odette, adding that when guests ask why the pub isn’t surrounded by Victorian housing, she has to explain.
“I tell them we were bombed from the docks right the way up to here during the Blitz. Much of this area has been rebuilt with social housing because people had nowhere to live.
“But we were lucky, the pub was miraculously left standing at the end of the war and has kept its wonderful character.”
Odette says people can still be biased, thinking the East End is a dangerous place.
“The idea for the experience was to add more income streams to boost revenue at a difficult time, but it’s also about taking people around and showing them the history.
“My mum was actually at the Battle of Cable Street when the community threw out Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts.
“For centuries the East End has been accommodating people who have nowhere else to go, from the Jewish community to the old Chinatown at Limehouse, and now the Bangladeshis and Eastern Europeans.
“Cities change constantly and the people who live in them.”
The Angel of Bow is at 171 Devons Road, Bow, E3. www.theangelofbow.co.uk
