The Shacklewell Arms - Hackney

The Shacklewell Arms is just off the A10 and Dalston Junction and Dalston Kingsland stations are not too far away. There are also plenty of buses serving the area so it is not too difficult to get to. The pub is cosy and the staff are friendly and welcoming. As it is not very busy if you have a seat you will probably be joined by other patrons so you can have a chat with them. At the back of the pub is the venue. If you are expecting something like the O2 you will be very disappointed as it is not very big but this is why I love it. It's a really great venue where you can be up close to the band and have a great time dancing and enjoying the music. I have been here a few times and NEVER had a bad experience. The staff are all really friendly including the security staff that are there to look after you. If your favourite band is playing there go and check them out at this great little pub!

Prepare yourself for a bit of humiliation and bullying by the female bouncer there. This person is clearly enjoying treating patrons like **** and making you wait unnecessarily outside or refusing entry for whatever reason she can come up with. Pub itself is great, but be sure you’re up for some twisted abuse of power before coming in.

I was acting and representing as all my other mates of mixed backgrounds, but for some reason I was being treated as if I was drunk and not at all welcomed to this venue by the female bouncer. Worth mentioning I am straight edge and hadn't had a single unit of alcohol. I invited to have a conversation about why she thought I was too drunk, but she certainly did not want to talk about the matter. I hope for a world of real acceptance and equality soon.

Extremely rude, aggressive and annoying waitress. Brought us a wrong food order, food had been already delayed, and had to hear some life lessons about how long shall we wait when the pub is busy for food, that we got free food since they changed the wrong order (they took back obviously the wrong order), keeping coming back to the table to throw a receipt, to shout a bit more etc. NEVER AGAIN!

I've visited this pub a number of times down the years, as it puts on regular live music from a wide variety of upcoming acts, offering the chance to see great bands in an intimate venue for little or no money. The venue is in the pub's back room a brightly decorated space with a stage on the rear wall which has an unusual alcove feature behind it, which the drummer often finds themselves shoehorned into. There's a bar in the venue, to save trips back into the front room, although they don't serve cask ale, preferring quite pricey craft beers on keg instead. A lot of gigs here are put on for free, so if you like digging around for good new music, you can try your luck here without making much of a financial commitment check the listings page on their website for details.