please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A real love it or loathe it pub. Personally, I'm a fan - the ramshackle interior changes with every visit and there are plenty of free events staged here. The draught beer selection is terrible, but they stock the full range of bottled Pitfield beers so all is not lost. The bar staff tend to be reasonably friendly too. All in all, it�s not your average pub visit experience.
Sadly it looks like it's closing for good in April 2010 so get down there quickly for your last chance to visit a Shoreditch institution.
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student union bar with a TV fetish
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This is a pub full of bicycle courier riders and students who will become bicycle courier riders. There is a standard draught selection and my Guinness was rank, but the guy who served me was nice enough.
I won�t be returning and I have never come across Molton Brown handwash!
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I think the negative comments about Foundry are unjustified. Foundry is not your regular pub, its _very_ different. If you want sparking chandeliers, posh seats, loos with Molton Brown handwash etc then dont come here, you will moan and curse. If you want something alternative, with character, funk, graffiti, art, cheap pints, dated electronics, random furniture and nice people, then have a broad mind and come here. I love this place, the people who man the bar are great and so are the drinkers. I read this was a converted bank, so the space is massive with lots of nooks and crannies. I love the small area where you can sit amongst the random TV's/electronics and watch weird stuff on the telly. Perfect.
Art is what you perceive it, just cos its different doesnt mean its crap, as some person put it in a review, i have seen some great stuff here.
Well worth a visit, its my favourite place in shoreditch.
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Yes it's friendly and quite bohemian; but also very smelly! Why hasn't anyone else mentioned this? Perhaps all their nostrils are damaged from years of Coke abuse? ;->
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I thought this place was okay despite anticipating too many 'cool' people trying too hard. People were generally friendly. Its quite rough and ready: I caught and ripped my dress on a nail in the downstairs area when coming out of the poetry area. The poetry evening was full of tense intellectuals trying very hard to show they had swallowed their own thesaurus and therefore most people too self-conscious to be friendly and hence not a very 'fun' evening. People outside were okay though. I do think that it is good to have a place like this in Shoreditch to counterract the Holiday Inns and White Cubes, and its no worse than other 'style' bars in the area.
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I too, was surprised at the friendliness of the staff considering the clientele were mostly hipsters. I usually can't stand Shoreditch as the people there are so full of themselves, but The Foundry feels low-key and chilled out.
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KRS One, you've made my day as this means I didn't even get the right change when I was in here! Fantastic! Stupid staff in a stupid pub where the only redeeming feature is writing about how bad it is above the urinals.
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Most pretentious looking pub i've ever been in. Full of artsy wannabees trying too hard to be something they're not. Worth visiting for the novelty factor and �2.80 beer, but not what you could call a relaxing experience. Lots of secondhand furniture placed in random places, and "art" via the medium of monitors displaying "poetry". I did like the loos though, where graffitti has been encouraged, so the place is covererd floor to ceiling.
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Rampantwurzels Tip on how to build a Hoxton bar (part 2)
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1. Get rid of 90% of the lighting.
Beautiful people don't look so beautiful in normal light, particularly since skag abuse does nothing for the skin, so strip out all the lights and get a few blacklights in there so tht people can look at their white clothing and go 'Wow, that's so cool' while tripping off some cheap PCP....
2. Get leather couches.
But do not get new ones. No no no, that's not the way. Get really old ones probably from house clearances, batter them up some more, and lay them out higglety pigglety around your pub floor
3. Carpets
Why bother? People don't like carpets, and hey it's easier to clean. If you can be bothered once every six months....
4. Beer
Actually (God I hate myself for this) - this is cheap. Really cheap
5. Art
Oh FFS - stop it. I don't want to see your rubbish on the walls, the toilet, the bar etc. Can people just not just accept the fact they're not Picasso, Freud, or Moore and in fact what they do is rubbish. Perhaps if I lived in a favella I might appreciate the practical use of some of your contraptions and trinkets but since I'm in Inner London I expect something a bit better.
6. Clientelle
Oh sorry, they don't talk to you. If they did you'd notice their bleeding gums from speed abuse, as well as an inability to say anythign interesting.
At least the beer is cheap which means you can wash down some methadone while viewing the trash. Might make you feel better. Probably not.
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Why was my last review removed?
People, this place is cr8p. Avoid
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The closest thing that London has to a Berlin-style bar. One could almost be in Kreuzberg or the Scheunenviertel. The place defies all expectations by having friendly staff and an atmosphere that is trendy without trying too hard. Marvellous and how bars should be.
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I loves it and after a year or so of pressure, our firm has moved just over the road!!!!
Lovely and wierd and different.
Love the way that crap ad horading around it has bee "Foundryed"
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A shambles, but all the better for it. I feared that it might be compromised by the area but there seemed quite a disparate crown in there when I went. The staff weren't at all up themselves either, being actually rather friendly. The bar - which looks like the aftermath of a bomb going off in an art gallery - is nicely supplemented by a genuine and rather minimal gallery in the basement.
Good for: Night time primarily, although maybe if one had a particularly nasty hangover it could be a good place to go for hair of the dog, I'm not sure.
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Only been a handful of times but always loved it! The place could be seen as pretentious I guess but I found the punters to be friendly as well as the staff. You never get bored there either.
Unique place to stop for a few beers
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This place is a complete dive, but the outside seating area is handy during the summer. I wouldn't exactly make a beeline for the place.
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Really great,
never had a problem here. Always clean & well managed.
Saint - 19 Apr 2006 14:14 |
Certainly the most unique pub I've had the pleasure to while away an evening in, in London. It is more of a squat that sells beer than a pub. The staff are open-minded and friendly and downstairs is an artistic space, where anyone who "thinks they can do better" is encouraged to do so. This place makes me think how Shoreditch probably was in the short period when it really WAS cutting edge and before the trust fund babies and hanger-on caught wind of it.
mikez - 13 Dec 2005 16:59 |
The perfect antidote to the seeping poison of the area's shiny style bars, The Foundry is a true one off. Situated in a former bank and filled with found furniture, often unsettling artworks and seemingly random items from the street, it looks and feels a bit like a squat but is none the worse for that. Interesting and varied crowd. A place of rare integrity
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The organic beer is very good. The clientele is young(ish) and arty. Music is a bit hit and miss but not predictable. Good atmosphere.
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Spel_Unca below mentions no real ale, they do stock beers from the local organic brewery on Pitfield Street. Appropriately pretentious I feel. Beer is good none the less.
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Strange pub. Quite pretentious as it is full of art students - or whatever they are. They wear funny cloths, have piercings, and usually wear a down-trodden expression.
Well worth a visit though. Don't miss the room downstairs as this will provide more interesting things to look at.
Obviously no real ale!
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I love the foundry; it makes me feel like I'm not in London. It's dead grotty, dead friendly and there's always something strange going on in a corner. Don't feel intimidated; just say hello & join in. An interesting stew of people. Sometimes too many parsnips, but there's always some juicy carrots in there too. Naughty.
S - 15 Nov 2004 16:22 |
Grotty, but character rich, pub that serves some decent and varied beers. Utterly ruined by a cliquey, snobby and utterly pretentious crowd. Live acts range from the pompous and self-indulgent to the embarrasingly awful. One to avoid.
Trevor - 14 Oct 2004 13:47 |
While the rest of shorditch goes posh, the foundry stays messy, mad, full of character and has the most open policy of any pub I've been to - for both the artwork on the walls and music. Two best happenings here are weird live electronic music night 1st friday of every month, and the "worm lady" who regularly performes on sunday afternoon poetry sessions... The local organic beer isn't bad either. I can't help but like this place!
Ben B. - 20 Sep 2004 11:04 |
It's the place where Shoreditch is still real nothing is homogenised and I hope it stays that way. Best Guinness around as far as I am concerned and the music well there often is a little of everything and sometimes it makes you laugh.
Chuck - 23 Jul 2004 12:24 |
some squat parties i've been to had better decor..there are also severed dolls heads hanging from the ceiling.....can't say anything more than that really
Emily - 17 Jun 2004 13:53 |
The place to go if you're into barmen with comedy beards and bits of dolls hung from the ceiling.
Joe - 1 Jun 2004 15:57 |
interior is like a bank where the shopfitter have bailed out halfway thru a revamp. That's cos it is. They serve Pitfield Ale brewed localled. Worth a look. Great 'intellograf' in the toilets, just made that word up. Irritating isn't it.
Dan - 14 May 2004 11:09 |
the foundry is a collective, a charming pub to laze long sunday afternoons in before a stoned hippie gets up and plays a bucket or a dodgy keyboard. the atmosphere is laid back, the decor a mix between an amsterdam squat and a trendy student bar. the locals are always accomodating, the poetry downstairs is hit or miss, the pints are cold and the music is fine!!!!!!! go go go go go go
benemy - 14 Apr 2004 23:41 |
Owned by the KLF. Last time I was in there the crickets escaped from the fishtank, and raided the sofas 'I'm a celebrity' style. Resembles a Bradford Squat.
Rachel - 5 Mar 2004 18:45 |
It's a bar. Kinda. With Daleks.
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