The Spurstowe Arms — Restaurant in London

🚇 Hackney Central 🍺 £6.80 Cruzcampo

This pub is located just north of London Fields in Hackney, East London. The nearest station is Hackney Central on the Mildmay Line.

This former Charrington’s pub was built in 1862 and has been serving Hackney for over 160 years. It takes its name from William Spurstowe, a prominent vicar of Hackney (1643–1662), renowned for his nonconformist stance and charitable work.

This is a traditionally decorated, single-bar pub with a distinct two-tone Victorian feel. The servery is centrally located, with the bar area forming a ‘J’ shape around it. The décor features high ceilings, dark-painted woodwork, cream walls, rustic furniture, a fireplace, and an eclectic mix of artworks. The standout feature is the large stained-glass bay window at the back of the bar. At the rear of the pub is a generously sized, walled beer garden.

The beer lineup is a mix of familiar, well-known keg favourites. I opted for a Cruzcampo—my pint hit the spot, though the price was a bit punchy. The food offering here is pizza by @doughhandspizza. The pub has received many visits from food reviewers, all of whom have raved about and ranked the pizza among the best in London.

We arrived just before 3 p.m. on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon in February. The pub was absolutely packed to the rafters with a young, creative crowd who call this pub their local. The atmosphere was upbeat and buzzy, but there was something missing in terms of a traditional pub feel. The service was okay—the team on duty were straight-faced and more “there you go” than “what can I get you?”

I visited this pub with my Brother and Sister and we all agreed that it was a lovely pub but it was just lacking a little bit of magic. This pub is incredibly popular and has a loyal local following, my pint was great if a little pricey and the Pizza attracts foodies for miles around. I would recommend a visit to this historic Hackney hostelry, let me know your thoughts?

📅 8th February 2025

If you want to see all my pub reviews in one place, head to @londonpubmap on...

To the comments of Stacey Sparklefeet, I would like to add the rest of information that is missing in the comment. Indeed I trough a lemon, it was playful and not intended to harm anybody, blame on me for being drunk in a pub on a Friday night. Apologies for the inconvenience caused. Said that, I did approach your table to apologise several times, but you seemed all too ofended to take an apology and more willing to get into a fight. Your friend then approached me violently and stole the beer a was drinking straight from my hand. Not happy with that, your friend kept on insulting me every time I was passing by your table to go to the toilet or to order drinks. That’s provably the reason why I asked what else do you wanted. At that point, your friend trough a glass of Prosecco over me and grabbed me by the neck, having to be stoped by the crowd. That’s the actual reason you were all kicked out of the bar, because of your aggressive behaviour. There is no sides in this story, just the violent and threatening way of your friend when dealing with the situation. The Supurstowe arms is a place were I have always felt accepted and respected, and I hope that with your choice of not coming back the place remains being a fun loving place were enjoy the night with friends and strangers. As you from the Spurstowe, I will remain far...

TL;DR: Amazing pizza — genuinely one of the best in London — but the service let us down when they mishandled our order and didn’t show much empathy in resolving the issue.

Full Review: We really love this place — the pizza is absolutely fantastic, easily some of the best you’ll find in London.

That said, we had a disappointing experience during our last visit. One of the three pizzas we ordered (separately) was mistakenly served to another table. After waiting around 40–45 minutes, we brought it to the staff’s attention. They acknowledged the mistake and promised to make a new one — but instead of prioritizing our replacement, they put us at the back of the queue.

We waited again, only to be told it would take even longer. At that point, we said we couldn’t wait any more and requested a refund, which they gave us without issue. However, they made it clear we wouldn’t be receiving the pizza, even though it was their error and we’d already spent nearly an hour waiting.

We’re not upset about missing a free pizza — it’s about the principle. After such a long wait and clear mismanagement, withholding the pizza felt a bit unempathetic and tone-deaf. A small gesture of goodwill would’ve gone a long way.

Still, we’d come back — the pizza really is that good — but we hope they work on how they handle mistakes...