Pub Heritage King Edward VII
Greater London East - Stratford
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed Status: II
47 The BroadwayStratford
E15 4BQ
Tel: (020) 8534 2313
Email: enquiries@kingeddie.co.uk
Website https://kingeddies.co.uk/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kingeddiesstratford
Real Ale: Yes
Lunchtime Meals: Yes
Evening Meals: Yes
Nearby Station: Stratford
Station Distance: 500m
Public Transport: Near Railway Station (Stratford) and Bus Stop
Bus: Yes
View on: Whatpub
An early 18th century survivor – now Grade 2 listed - whose three-room interior retains many features from Edwardian times.
An ornate entrance (currently kept locked) on the pub’s right-hand side leads to a passage with wonderful decorative floor-to-ceiling tiling on one side and, on the other, a wood-and-glass partition still containing etched glass panels. One of these records the date 1913, the year in which the name of the pub changed from the King of Prussia, and possibly the year in which many of the fittings were installed. The low-ceilinged front room was once subdivided into three rooms. The rear Saloon Bar is grander with attractive linen-fold wall panelling, and a counter and pillared bar-back both of which are thought to be Edwardian.
There are short flights of steps in both rooms which lead to a rear function room which may well have been added in 1913. Its two large skylights (one sealed up) suggest the room may originally have housed two billiard tables.
The bar-back, flagstone floor and stubby partitions in the front room are all modern. The leaded upper sections of some windows have tinted yellow and green elements, indicating the pub’s origins as a Charrington’s house - something which is confirmed by a modern painting on a courtyard wall showing how the pub looked in c.1904.
An early 18th century two storey building dwarfed by neighbouring properties and with a number of Victorian / Edwardian fittings. On the front right a disused door leads into a passage formed by a Edwardian wood and glass partition which retains four of its five main panels and smaller ones between the two bar doors. There is a frieze of bunch of grapes above the partition. It has a wonderful floor to ceiling tiled wall with patterned relief tiled in mainly green and yellow on the dado and above seven tiled panels in light green, turquoise etc. A door with ‘Saloon bar’ etched and frosted window leads to the rear bar with a Edwardian bar counter where panels have been added to the front between the pilasters but the top looks original. The bar back is mainly Edwardian with pillars but the rear panelling and shelving is modern. The walls have excellent linenfold panelling but a photo on the wall shows much plainer panels so presumable it was added at a later date?
If you take a careful look at the floral patterned etched rear window you can see the outline of a Prussian helmet. The pub changed its name from the King of Prussia to the King Edward VII in 1913. The fireplace might be old but more likely a reproduction one. Steps lead up to a room on the rear left which is an addition with no old fittings. The front bar with ‘Lounge bar’ etched and frosted panel in the door has a modern counter and bar back, post-war panelled walls and modern flag floor on the right and bare wood on the left. The existence of more front doors confirms it was at least two rooms in the past. Some dado panelling on the rear left is old as could be the small tiled and vast iron fireplace. All the stubby partitions are modern.
