East London Food & Culture

Yardarm opens in Leyton

Another new wine bar and coffee shop hits Francis Road

Opening next month: Yardarm. Photo: Twitter
Opening in December: Yardarm. Photo: Twitter
My word, isn’t Francis Road becoming foodie? First there was Albert & Francis, then Marmelo Kitchen and next up, at No.238, a former community centre that’s been out of action for a while, is the arrival of Yardarm.

Yard-what? Apparently it’s a nautical term for the “outer extremity of a ship’s yard”, which roughly means the bits of timber nailed onto the mast where the sails are hung. But in sea-faring slang it also refers to the time of day when it was considered “permissible” – presumably for sailors – to begin drinking alcohol, as in: “I never drink until the sun is over the yardarm.”

Er, OK. Anyway, land-lubbers can relax: the only sea that’s in sight here is one of beverages. “We’re planning for a wine bar and a coffee shop combined,” says co-owner Dan, “and aiming at opening before Xmas. Wine will be the focus but we want to stock other bits we like, and that we feel go well too.”

So is he a local? “I grew up in Leyton and have worked in hotels, bars and restaurants. My partner, Eliza, is from Land’s End in Cornwall, and has also worked in restaurants, as well as for a wine seller and a wine magazine. So we plan on hosting tastings, as she’s qualified to teach.”

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And that is all they’ll divulge. For now. But we’ll keep you posted before it opens – and we’re fairly sure there’ll be enough able seamen in the area to drain the barrels dry nightly.

Yardarm opens on Saturday 12th December, 238 Francis Road E10. Follow them on @yardarm-leyton

8 thoughts on “Yardarm opens in Leyton”

  1. It opened on Saturday last (12/12) – I popped in around 8.45 and it was already busy, with people enjoying a glass of wine in the comfortable surroundings. The hosts were v nice and friendly and impressed me with their excellent beer selection (Usual suspects such as the Kernel, Beavertown and Brew Dog are stocked along with the superlative Belgian brewers De Ranke and a Swiss micro, even). Wine is their focus, lots of unusual and classy bottles but they also do some deli stuff and French and Basque cider. Coffee? wasn’t looking.Open Tue-Sun around 11am-10pm, they will see how that goes. Great new addition, just a bit worried about their location at the grottier end of Francis Rd.

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8 thoughts on “Yardarm opens in Leyton”

  1. It opened on Saturday last (12/12) – I popped in around 8.45 and it was already busy, with people enjoying a glass of wine in the comfortable surroundings. The hosts were v nice and friendly and impressed me with their excellent beer selection (Usual suspects such as the Kernel, Beavertown and Brew Dog are stocked along with the superlative Belgian brewers De Ranke and a Swiss micro, even). Wine is their focus, lots of unusual and classy bottles but they also do some deli stuff and French and Basque cider. Coffee? wasn’t looking.Open Tue-Sun around 11am-10pm, they will see how that goes. Great new addition, just a bit worried about their location at the grottier end of Francis Rd.

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