People’s Park Tavern: The Best Pub Garden in London

By Tom Gatehouse
@tragatehouse
tomgatehouse.com

My love affair with The Laine Pub Company, an outlandishly cool organisation originating from Brighton, is well documented. The Four Thieves in Clapham, The Aeronaut in Acton and The Candlemaker in Battersea have all been recipients of my affections in recent months. My visit to People’s Park Tavern means I’ve now journeyed to half the Laines pubs in London – and they arguably keep getting better and better. All, I might add, for entirely different reasons.

Placed right on the edge of Victoria Park in Hackney, and now spread over two floors; PPT is an adult’s playground. Arcade game machines, enormous beer steins hanging from the ceiling, twinkling circus lights, suits of armour, a mini brewery out the back, and now an upstairs ‘Tap Room’ which holds over 55 beers from all over the world, a billiards table, DJ decks with a bring your own vinyl option, and a fully functional N64 with games.

I mean, come on.

Before we got cracking, I pushed for a quick trip into their beer garden to see what was what.

It was magnificent. A huge tarpaulin encasing multiple leather sofas and wooden tables, with wood-burning ovens in the shape of globes providing a decidedly middle-eastern feel. A fusball table stands opposite a new installation, namely a separate bar chalet full of modern art and, of course, a bottle or two of spirits.

And now onto the garden. Yes, that was only the patio area. The garden itself looks like a renovated cricket pitch, surrounded by miniature alcoves with individual speakers and heating systems. To hazard a guess, I’d say there are around 50 or so benches on the green, with even more as you near the back gate and Victoria Park itself.

Laine’s claim they have room for upwards of 450 people! Barbeques are rife in the summer months, when ping pong tables also emerge from storage, and there’s a mysterious podium in the very centre of it all. Not even the bartenders know what it’s for.

It’s the best pub garden I’ve ever seen.

Walking across veritable fields builds an appetite, and it turns out that the chef is given free rein in the kitchen, and doesn’t have to follow strict ‘sausages, beans and chips’ guidelines like when working in a Wetherspoons. I thought that sounded great and went for the coconut softshell crab with fried plantains and Jamaican Escovitch sauce (£14) as my main (or large plate).

My companion, who had been practicing her photography on one of the suits of armour to her left, felt like being a bit more traditional. But only just. A burger – but a Welsh lamb burger with halloumi, tzatziki, cucumber and rocket in a home-made flat bread (£12).

To start (or to small plate), we sort out the seared Scottish scallops with pea puree, blood orange and saffron beurre blanc (£9). Sure enough, the chef in the back, wild with power, had created the ultimate high-brow pub starter. Arty and candle-lit, the scallops were simply a decadent naughtiness – and perhaps an edible barometer of just how well Laine’s are doing with their steadily growing armada of pubs in the capital.

My crab was whole and spicy, evoking memories of an evening I spent in Mong Kok in Hong Kong, ploughing through fresh spicy crabs in a back-alley shack. It was an amazing evening, and I was grateful for the reminder. My companion took an age to finish her dish as it was just so hefty! I had had a nibble when she wasn’t looking and sat fidgeting, waiting for my next opening. It didn’t come.

Everything was washed down by two pints of their home-brewed, 5% Indian pale ale. People’s Park Tavern have eight different ales on at any one time, ranging from the random to the Red Empire. Literally, their Random pale ale is made using different hops every time.

Full and slightly flush, we headed inside and upstairs to check out their newly opened Tap Room – their library of beer. I got chatting to the barman there, who was enjoying his own adventure through larger and ale (in his spare time). Not even he had managed to get on top of the ever increasing number of different beers coming in.

My companion and I jumped on the N64 as soon as we could and settled down for a spot of GoldenEye. The great thing about this upstairs spot is that it feels like your friend’s bedroom – you can really relax. Well, not unless you find yourself trapped by Oddjob in the smallest GoldenEye level with only a few rounds of your pistol left.

Quite apt then that I found myself drinking a funky ale from South Yorkshire called “Life and Death”.

The name of my companion’s beer? “Wu Gang Chops The Tree”.

People’s Park Tavern
Address: 360 Victoria Park Rd, London E9 7BT
Phone: 020 8533 0040
Website: peoplesparktavern.pub
Twitter: @peoplestavern