Sebright Arms — Restaurant in London

🚇 Cambridge Heath 🍺 £6.60 Mahou

The Sebright Arms is located in a backstreet on the border between Cambridge Heath and Bethnal Green in the East End. The nearest station is Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green Tube is ten minutes walk away.

This pub was originally built in 1823 and was located diagonally opposite. The pub you see today was built by Charrington’s in 1936.

This is a surprisingly large pub with an opened out interior. The interior comprises two wood-panelled rooms with the servery located on the left hand side. The seating comprises of traditional tables and chairs, long banquettes and sturdy benches. There are a couple of TV screens dotted about and a pool table near the entrance. In the basement is a live music venue, outside are a tables in the side alley. There are some beautiful original features that have survived the test of time, I love the leaded Charrington’s windows, the Neo-Georgian panelling and the stained glass gantry above the servery.

The beer selection is all keg and offers a mix of mainstream beers, London craft and continental brews. I decided on a pint Mahou, my pint was great, price point was above average. The food menu consists of Burgers and comfort food options, Roasts are available on a Sunday.

I arrived around 2pm on an overcast Saturday afternoon in June. The pub was fairly quiet inside and had a number of twenty something punters sat outside on the benches. The atmosphere was chilled and relaxed as the pub geared up for the Georgia v Czech Republic Euro match. The service was pleasant, the team member who served me was welcoming and courteous.

This pub has plenty on to keep you entertained with live bands playing in the basement, Karaoke nights, a Pub Quiz, Pool competitions and Live Premier League.

I loved the architecture of this interwar built boozer, and also the beautifully maintained interior. The beer choice is decent and there is plenty to keep you entertained. The @sebrightarms is well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

ℹ️ Info...

Food was hit and miss- the beef was inedible; it’s fine having rare beef but it needs to be a decent cut. All of us couldn’t cut the beef let alone chew it, the rest of the food was lukewarm or cold, but otherwise tasted ok. We ordered 2 cauliflower cheeses but only got one, the kids menu came with ice cream but this never came and we were quite desperate to go by this stage anyway; without asking for, or ordering anything more or (even the money back for items we hadn’t received).

We’d ordered a couple of starters on arrival but after 20mins got told one wasn’t available and then waited ages more for humus -wouldn’t have thought it would take that long to prepare humus and they didn’t seem that busy but it was a sign of things to come..

Service was kinda friendly but… useless, the people working were nice but it felt like nobody knew what they were doing, or maybe food was a new concept for the pub. Not enough cutlery for the table, dirty plates were left on tables even when the table next to us got served, the staff just walked back and left our table which was clearly finished. Every plate had a pile of untouched fatty/sinewy beef strewn across the plate but no acknowledgment was made when the plates eventually got taken from the table behind (we had to move them there ourselves). By this stage it was a case of cutting our losses and going for a drink somewhere else as we just wanted to get out.

This isn’t a personal attack on the pub or the staff obviously, but in terms of constructive criticism, there’s a lot of pubs doing great food round this way and if you want to charge £20-30 for a roast you need to get the food and service better. If you want to serve the beef that rare- it needs to be a rib of beef or something, the beef we had was genuinely not fit for a dog. Potatoes, chicken and pork were nice, greens were decent, gravy was salty but nice and the yorkshire was dry/chewy but ok.

Overall I wouldn’t go back, as there’s so many pubs doing better roasts...

I had a bit of a not so good experience made better by the nice guy, who was working on the late afternoon/early evening shift on Friday 20th of September, this five star review is for him. I came in at about 4 45 pm, wanting a quick meal, in my limited work break. The nice guy, whos name l didn't get, took my order, told me it be about 15 min, l paid and popped out to get something, l returned about 10 min later, and waited and waited. The staff member, chased my food order up, some how the three kitchen staff, got side tracked with cleaning. It's now about 5.20 pm, l see people who's food, that was ordered after mine, come before mine. The nice guy, on duty, used his initiative, his excellent customer service skills, came up to me, couldn't have been more professionally polite, apologetic, and gave me a full refund on the food, that l ordered. The food then arrived, was placed in take away containers, as by this point, no time to even eat the food, and l went back to work. So a five star review to that nice male member of staff, you know what customer service is all about, and because you gave me a full refund, without me even saying a single word, l will come back, with friends, for your Monday night...