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.

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!)

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.

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 decor.
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.

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.

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 5th star.

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.

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.

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.