We weren’t completely sold on Ye Olde Axe. We reckon that we’ve got a pretty good handle on most venues in London, but we weren’t entirely sure about this one.

A combo old-school East End boozer and strip club which features occasional live bands and a popular rockabilly night? It’s sounds like the kind of venue that barrels along one inch from the surface of the road, existing by sheer dint of will and because no repo man will actually go near the place.

Then again, there are strippers. And we visited the place, and we found that while it was unquestionably a strip pub with live music intentions, it was a pretty impressive one.
Things didn’t start off so well. As is usually the case with these little profiles, we phone up the owner and/or manager and arrange to chat. No-one answered the phone at Ye Olde Axe all afternoon. Later, an enquiry of one of the busy staff members in person elicited the response that the manager, Tom Melody, was around, but we probably wouldn’t find him.
OK then.

Further calls the next day dug up very little. We were told – with typical East End bolshiness – that no, there was nobody there who knew anything about the history of the venue, no, nobody wanted to speak to us just then, no, the manager wasn’t there and would we call back later.

We did. To no answer yet again. At this point we were willing to can the whole exercise, but it’s an interesting place, and it’s been around since at least 1850 (though the current pub has only existed since, apparently, the beginning of the 20th century). So here’s what we do know.

The place has a history. There’s a rumour that has been doing the rounds for some time that says in the 1970s, while the pub was undergoing some major rebuilding work, two bodies were discovered underneath it. Naturally, their ghosts still haunt the building, though whether they’re unhappy to find themselves in a pub with strippers, booze and music for all eternity is not certain.

The pub itself, despite the stage and the stripper poles hanging off the roof, is actually the quintessential boozer. Lippy bar staff, slightly whiffy atmosphere, aging décor – all of which give the place a certain charm. It has a large outdoor area too, and a serious sound system and turntables set up to go with it. The massive octagonal clock tower at the top of the building – with three clock faces – hints at a much grander interior. It does, however, serve pints in plastic cups – so a little bit different to your average boozer then, and not to its credit.

And then, of course, there are the Rockabilly Rebels nights. And that’s when Ye Olde Axe goes completely up the wall.

Imagine at around, say, eleven odd on a Saturday night, the stripper whose breasts you’ve been staring at suddenly getting up and leaving, only for a bunch of guys with hair gel and black leather jackets to come in with their girlfriends (sailor tatts proudly displayed) and start jitterbugging on the dance floor. Reckon that might cause you to splutter into your pint. At any rate, the venue seems to attract the hip Shoreditch crowd for these nights, and hey, since when was combining strippers with twist music a bad idea?

Just be warned; it gets kind of rowdy. See our Man Like Me live in this edition for further evidence.

Where? 69 Hackney Road, Hackney, London, E2 8ET 020 77295137
Web? Oh please...
How? Tube: Old Street (Northern Line)
Founded? 1850
Atmosphere? Boozer with boobs
Pint? £3.60