East India Arms, Fenchurch Street, London Pub Review

East India Arms, London

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by Robert Gale in Pubs

East India Arms, London

The East India Arms is a tiny pub located in the City of London on Fenchurch Street.

Brief History

Just around the corner from Fenchurch Station, the four storey brick building stands alone amongst more modern buildings. The building is named after the East India Company, a trading company founded on December 31st, 1600. It traded mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China and operated until 1857.

The pub stands at the centre of the Company’s former commercial universe. The headquarters were based on the site of the Lloyds of London Insurance building for over two centuries and the centre of Britain’s tea trade was located in nearby Mincing Lane.

The Interior

Owned by Shepherd Neame, the interior of the pub is tiny with bare boards throughout. When I visited the pub had very few seats – a few stools around the edges and a single l-shaped comfy seat at one end of the pub. Having visited quite a few city pubs, most of the clientele are office workers who prefer to stand and on the sunny day in May that I visited, the majority were stood outside, hence the lack of people in the interior shots. On a rainy day I would imagine this pub gets very busy inside.

The central bar is adorned with hops and has some fantasic painted mirrors featuring the pubs’ name and address. According to a review on Beer in the Evening, the pub used to be owned the Charrington’s brewery and was then acquired by Youngs in 1973. I’m not sure when Shepherd Neame acquired the pub.

The Beer

The pub had four Shepherd Neame ales on when I visited – Spitfire, Bishop’s Finger, Master Brew plus a special beer – RSA Celebration Ale. It is worth noting that apart from bar snacks, this pub does not serve food.

More Photos of the East India Arms

Venue Location

East India Arms

67 Fenchurch Street

London

EC3M 4BR

Tel: 020 7265 5121

twb.im/eastindiaarms

View on Google Street View

Robert Gale (Twitter: @awv)

Beer Taster, Pub Attendee, Photo Taker

Robert Gale likes beer, pubs and beer festivals. He also likes to take photos of beer, pubs and beer festivals. Most weekends of the year you can find him travelling around the UK (and sometimes beyond) photographing and reviewing good quality pubs and beer festivals. He also has a day job in the form of a web developer for Ozum.