In a nod to the jellied eels which were once sold at F Cooke’s on Kingsland High Street, the new bar will be called The Black Eel and will open on October 24.
Owners Exale Brewing will transform the Grade II listed Dalston landmark into a venue offering darts, shuffleboard, a beer garden, and karaoke.
The historic shopfront dating back to the early 1900s will be preserved, but inside there will be a series of rooms including a main bar, private karaoke room, games area, relaxed lounge spaces, and a private room for up to 60.
Out back is a huge beer garden open until 10pm with plenty of greenery, quiet nooks, and a pétanque court for some light competitive socialising.
Chef Billy Fisher will be in residence in the kitchen with Mediterranean-inspired Riley’s serving seasonal comfort dishes built around bold flavours.
Think fried new potatoes with mayo, grilled courgette with feta and chilli, or marinated tomatoes with goats curd.
Mains include pork ribs with hot honey, braised chuck with flatbread and oregano, or a proper cheeseburger with mustard onions, while desserts feature a rich chocolate torte, Basque cheesecake with toffee sauce, and a winter Eton Mess.
Sundays will be all about roasts with pork belly, beef sirloin or baked celeriac, and the bar will serve the Walthamstow-based brewery’s craft ales along with cocktails.
A mosaic bearing the name Cooke with an eel slithering through the letters and a shell inscribed ‘established 1862’ likely refers to Robert Cooke, a butcher who founded the original Cooke’s eel pie and mash shop at Sclater Street off Brick Lane.
His son Frederick went on to open a chain of a dozen F. Cooke, eel, pie and mash shops including venues in Hoxton Street, and Broadway Market.
The Dalston pie and mash shop and restaurant opened in 1910 and a rear dining room following in 1936.
English Heritage says with original features including a marble topped counter and marble risers for displaying eels, a gold lettered sign with octagonal lanterns, stained glass, glazed tiles, panels showing scenes of boats harvesting catches, and wooden benches which probably date back to the 1930s “it’s a rare surviving example of a once common type of establishment in London”
After serving the Dalston community for decades with dishes of jellied eels and pie, mash and parsley sauce, the shop closed in 1996.
The following year it became Chinese restaurant Shanghai which in turn became a Dalston institution while retaining much of the original tiles, benches and counters.
Now the new owners are aiming for a pub with a laid back lively atmosphere.
On their website they say: “The Black Eel is more than just another pub- it’s a place where Dalston’s history and East London’s future come together, built for people who want more from their local: more space, more atmosphere, and more ways to enjoy.
“Today, the premises stands as one of the few surviving examples of an authentic East End pie and mash shop. The 1862 mosaic at its threshold is a reminder of the generations who passed through its doors, and of the Cooke family’s enduring link to Hackney. Though it no longer serves pie and mash, it remains a proud part of Dalston’s identity – a place where the history of London’s working-class food culture is written into the very fabric of the building.”
