George & Dragon

I love this bar and I’m sad that I’m only learning of this place just now. Friendly staff, cheap beer and a mechanical horse on the wall is what I’d like to call home.
My friend and I came here to check out the gay scene. My first impression: finally a gay bar/​pub where they’re blaring 90s dance music and everyone is trying to get with everyone. Good music allowed me to have an actual good chat with my friend while we try to sus out who’s single at the bar.
What I love is that this place is so opened and friendly. No one is staring me trying to figure out why I’m there. Really, forget about label: it’s just another pub with friendly people… in Shoreditch.

Stopped by for a drink early on a Friday night and while I was happy to know there was a gay bar in the area we were staying, I wasn’t overly impressed. The location is great but the décor is certainly a bit tired. Pros were that the patrons seemed friendly, bar staff were ok, prices not bad. Cons-​I do wish they had something to snack on but hey and our table was never wiped down. All-​in-​all, it’s great to have a gay dive bar in the area so can’t knock it.

A must go queer place in London !
Just amazing, the atmosphere is so cool and the decoration makes it all !
Just go and check by yourself !
Everyone’s welcome !

Wednesday night, 7:30pm, walking home from a long day at work.
Strolling through Shoreditch… Wow, the party get’s started really early here.
A pint sounds good.
Almost back to the place I’m staying… what’s nearby?
What’s this? I see dim lights coming from a place on the corner…
Odd — looks closed.
Wait, did someone just walk out?
Time to get my pint!
I stroll in wearing my tweed vest fit for a 12 year old and oddly coloured plaid necktie all pieced together under my black rain coat.
What an odd place… Is that heavy metal playing in the background?
I hope I don’t get booted for violating a dress code of not enough neck tattoos.
Go, get your damned pint already!
One pint of Magner please.
Wednesdays are good for Magner — light and crispy enough not to fool you into thinking the weekend has started.
The bartender is staring at me.
I knew my vest didn’t match the heavy metal — no matter. Here’s your money.
No where to sit at the bar — guess I can stand next to the window and take a look around.
Interesting décor.
Lights, pictures, wait a minute…
Despite the music, these people don’t look like heavy metal-​ites…
Flannel shirts, skinny jeans, overgrown beards, lots of beards
Wait, where are the ladies???
Is this???
Giggle… who would have thought I just stumbled in a gay bar!
Well, more like a hipster homo haven.
No matter. This pint still tastes great and I’m almost finished.
I definitely need to come back to this place with some friends next time.
Pint empty — time to get back.
Saying bye to the bouncer, I walked back in the now dark Wednesday evening in Shoreditch.
RAAAR RAAR RAAAAAAR!, screams the homeless man in the nearby church startling me.
Part of the neighborhood, I suppose.
George, looking forward to visiting the dragon’s den again.

Apparently being the only one that didn’t enjoy the night, but, honestly, this one was a failure.
Recommended by a friend, the old building caught my eye and — as it usually happens with pubs — set the mood for a good brew.
Upon entering, the décor is fun and colourful with animal heads hanging from the walls. There is no secret passage, what you see is what you get.
A small yet packed corner pub with the most intense booze smell of the year. It really stinks, and so do your clothes the next day…
Resisting to my brew instinct, I got a vodka-​lemon. Simple as that: do not try this anytime, soon. I only tasted the lemon… hence the drink’s price at about four pounds.
Needless to say, do not dream of reaching a seat or getting rid of your coat.
A cloakroom may seem luxury in such a place, but what about coat hooks? We ended up piling our jackets under some table (yes, on the floor…).
As for the crowd?
Well, it’s a — mostly men’s — gay bar, yet I’ve seen better, much better…
UP:
— Cheap drinks.
— Fun atmosphere and décor
— Easily accessible.
DOWN:
— No seating (not even stools).
— Stinks of booze.
— Bad drinks quality.
VERDICT:
Only if you chain and drag me there… and pay for the drinks! :p

Este bar está muy bien situado, la decoración es total, especialmente la cabeza de caballo que se mueve…
Las bebidas no son excesivamente caras, además a veces cuentan con diferentes ofertas, como 2 margaritas a 5 libras. Y dependiendo del día pueden sorprenderte ofreciéndote palomitas gratis con la consumición.
Definitivamente si quieres sorprender a alguien con un sitio peculiar pásate por este local. Eso sí, si quieres mantener una conversación lo mismo te toca subir el tono de voz un poco porque a veces se pasan con el volumen de la música y resulta algo molesto.
Los fines de semana se peta, así que si no te gusta demasiado alboroto, disfrútalo mejor entre semana ;)

On the hunt for a good alternative gay bar for a friend, an in-​the-​know Londoner took us to Shoreditch (why am I not surprised?) and to George & Dragon. A short bus ride from Liverpool St station, we arrived at nearly 11p on a Saturday night.
The place was packed and unlike most of London’s spots, what you see is what you get — no twisting, steep staircase to a basement or first floor, no meandering flow of rooms. Just one big box packed full of sweaty young hipsters dancing to Cheryl Cole, Heart and Lykke Li.
Wait at the bar was no worse than any other bar in London at this hour, but at least you could entertain yourself while admiring the kitsch-​and-​crap décor, including their piece de resistance, a mechanical horse head that chews cud and wiggles its little ear as if to say «hello, can you handle me and my straight-​out-​of-​hipster-​parody-​video friends?»
We could, Marcus (that’s what I’ve named my horse friend), we could. We danced, we chatted up the friendly pushers-​by and we managed to fight two drinks out of that packed bar in the hour we were there.
Good times, good music, fun crowd.

I sort of felt like I was in that Smith’s video where all those little gay boys were following Morrisey around some gloomy English town on bikes with big blocky glasses.
It’s a gay pub in an old building, about as
queer as you’d like in Shoreditch. Yes kinda smelly and maybe sticky with not a lot of seats, but that’s fine.
Hang out with your friends, and chat over some brew.

definitely a gay bar. my friends love hitting up this local joint as it could be a nice place to have a chat while nice music in the background drinks are average

You know the feeling Beetlejuice gets when he’s in the waiting room? It’s like that. I walked in and it felt like home. It has an aftertaste of the Rubyfruit bar in Manhattan (now closed) if anyone has been frequented the global queer scene to appreciate little nooks and havens such as this.
I only live a few blocks away and finally stopped in with some friends on my birthday a few weeks ago. It was a Saturday and X factor was blasting on the projector screen and there was a bit of tranny quiz during the breaks.
All around nice warm pub atmosphere with limitless cruising opportunities (for the fellas).
Go there.

On entering I couldn’t stop thinking ‘What’s that smell?’, but 5 pints later I’d forgotten all about it.
The George and Dragon is inexplicably popular, most people here on a weekend are killing time before they get down and dirty down the street at the Joiners.
It’s a funny little place, no beer garden so the punters use the pavement and busy road instead, small slightly scummy toilets, rather expensive lager, cheesy music on a weekend, but few dancing, and not much seating.
Still, it’s got a friendly, non-​cruisey vibe about it and despite only intending to stay for one at 7pm we ended up staying until closing (and then joined the others and got down and dirty down the street at the Joiners).

Whats not to like about the George & Dragon … perfect location, always full of beautiful young trendy boys, tons of random things on the walls to look at, you can take your drinks outside and sit up on the cemetary wall and classics playing to keep you merry.
This is one of my locals that i don’t go to often enough … especially good early in the week where still busy but less so means you might snag one of the good booths.

There was a bouncer outside this pub so very early on a Saturday. I think I was only the third customer (but then I was fixing for a fight with the other two)
The pub looks nice, relatively old fashioned and traditional inside and out… but not decorated as such… it actually looked more like they were still celebrating Halloween!
No real ale, but they were serving Birra Moretti, one of the least vile of lagers (It is actually quite nice — it had better be at 4.10 a pint).
It certainly has character, but just doesn’t really have enough else to keep me coming back.

You can get two margaritas for £5 and they’re strong. REAL strong. If the animatronic moose in the corner isn’t enough to make you love this place, then their amazing margaritas are.
There is also the interesting hipster bar staff that are just amusing to watch in case margaritas and animated moose aren’t your thing.

2 margs for £5 last night… I’m hoping this is a regular weekly Tuesday occurrence… because if it is, I will be a regular weekly Tuesday occurrence.
…now that’s how you earn a 5^th star.

This place has a really urban, grungy kind of vibe, and attracts an incredibly trendy crowd. It may be set back from Shoreditch High St., it doesn’t manage to escape the Shoreditch crowd.
The place could easily be missed, as it looks like a run down old building and doesn’t have a lot of signage. However, on a busy night, you won’t miss the skinny jean wearing hipsters crowding around outside. I’m not trying to make it sound bad, I actually like the place itself. I just detest places where everyone thinks they are really cool.
Although it is a very small place, they managed to make room for a D.J. set-​up. If you want a pub that epitomizes East London culture, this place is for you.

The George and Dragon is a gem in the East End, the eccentric décor inside adds to the buzzy atmosphere. Fairly lights, cardboard cut outs and stuffed animals fill the tiny bar. There are only a few tables which are almost always crammed with people, fashionable youngsters in skinny jeans, arty types and local students, mix with the mostly gay clientele.
There’s always somewhat of a party atmosphere, flamboyant bar staff waltz around glass collecting and chatting up the regulars. Get there early if you want a table, at weekends you’ll most likely be joining the crowds drinking outside or dancing by the dj booth. I suppose that’s the problem with small bars, or perhaps that’s actually a plus. More intimate than the larger, impersonal bars in the area.
I love the George & Dragon, always worth dropping in. Grab a drink and dance to cheesy pop and forgotten classics. Love it.

Don’t expect to get a seat, don’t expect to have a non-​shouty conversion but do expect to be surrounded by Shoreditch’s riff raff with animal heads poking out of the wall, peering into your frenzied banter. It’s such an eclectic place, here are some wild and wacky quotes which perhaps begin to explain the magic of the place.
It’s like some kind of wunderkammer — The Guardian
Grotty but influential– The Times
Cheerful, yet strangely, still achingly hip– The Metro
Green and Slimy– The Face
Open six to 11 daily, this bar is gay, mixed, androgynous, metrosexual with neighbors upstairs likely to throw paint on your head (this actually happened). Get yer glamorous pint with a local ‘celebratty’ before heading down to Trailer Trash or Gutter Slut.
(FYI — This is one particular gay/​gay-​friendly bar that won’t have any homo publications gathering dust on its window sills, its reputation precedes it!)

I came here recently after a birthday dinner, it really was the best place to end the night. On a Saturday night the place is heaving, lots of people dancing, laughing, talking and generally a great atmosphere. We certainly danced our socks off that night.
The décor is pretty kitsch, with pink walls and a talking horses head on the wall, the bar staff are equally as eccentic, dancing and singing as they serve you drinks. I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.

Nestled on a corner off the main Shoreditch crossroads is an eclectic and unpredictable bar. Continuous party-​friendly tunes are played, there are regular lock-​ins after hours, hilarious décor (on the interior and the regulars), along with the guarantee that after last orders, the rambunctious banter will continue out on the pavement.
Rumours abound that Bjork once spun a set on the decks and, the last time I was passing by on a Saturday afternoon, the owners had decided to turn the place into a giant jumble sale. The entire floorspace was covered in massive confusion of old sequinned jackets, odd cowboy boots and velvet cloaks.
I suppose its important to point out that ‘the George’ is nominally a gay bar. But its one where straight people can feel comfortable and welcomed.

Great pub with a good atmosphere, really gets going just before they kick you out.
Guest DJ’s and random nick nackery add to the atmosphere.
Look out for the white cubicle– the women’s toilet is used for art installations and shows.