Over the past several years, Leyton has slowly become a hub of great independent businesses. While locals cottoned on to the neighbourhood’s potential a while back, more recently, visitors are coming from elsewhere as exciting new spots to eat and drink take over the arches near Leyton Midland Road station.
You could argue that it all began in 1894, when the station then known as Leyton opened (it wasn’t renamed Leyton Midland Road until more than half a century later). It could also be traced back to the 2000s, when the area underwent a glow-up for the Olympics, and the Overground helped connect the capital’s forlorn corners.
By the late 2010s, local pioneers like specialty coffee store Perky Blenders and Gravity Well Brewing Company had laid strong roots in Leyton.
But fast forward to 2025 and it’s all about Tilbury Road, the narrow thoroughfare directly opposite the station that’s home to a fast-rising number of venues and events, with recent free summer festivals attracting thousands.
Danny Saunders, owner of new Tilbury Road mezcal and whisky bar, Chop Shop Tavern, tells Broadsheet that the street got its name because “the arches were originally used to store bananas from Tilbury Docks”. By the 1980s and ’90s, they housed vehicle-repair garages – Saunders has opened his bar in the same arch he worked in as a teenage mechanic. A wreck dangles from the ceiling to remind drinkers it was once where – as he puts it – “cars were taken and chopped up”.
Meanwhile, a couple of doors down, Tilbury Road’s longest surviving resident is canned booze specialist Point Cocktails. Eight years ago, founder Hayden Gale took an arch because “it was the cheapest place in town”, he tells Broadsheet. In the years since, he’s “seen it all, from drug dealers to fly tipping”. But his persistence paid off: he’s just launched a bottle shop and tasting room.
The catalyst for Tilbury’s current rebirth was in 2023 when fledgling craft brewery Libertalia took the arch that Gravity Well had vacated (to move to bigger one within the station itself). With its anarchic stylings and quaffable beers, this new taproom was a hit – and a flurry of openings soon followed, from tropical cocktail bar Leyton Calling and Caribbean BYOB restaurant Ochi to natural wine bar Swirl, which hosts residencies with up-and-coming East London chefs.
Now, in 2025, the newbies keep on coming, including Tun, a community cafe celebrating Leyton’s history “as the [Anglo-Saxon word] tun, or town, on the River Lea”, says owner Ed Beardsell. There’s also hit pie shop Wins, named “after my nan”, says owner Jack Hughes. It sees daily queues for Hughes’s pasties (try the slow-cooked beef shin using porter from Libertalia Brewing Co).
But the hottest new arrival is gelato store Chunk. Named after the character in Steven Spielberg’s 1980s classic The Goonies, its owners were previously at Morny, a much-loved viennoisserie on nearby Francis Road. “We split our menu into both a ‘curious’ and ‘purist’ take,” co-founder Renee Coco tells Broadsheet, so punters can swing between classic pistachio or vanilla and more experimental flavours, from black sesame and soy to earl grey and blackberry.
And there are no signs of things slowing down. Next up, Walthamstow’s Crumbs Bakery is about to take over the furthest arch, while the street’s adjoining Tilbury Yard is hosting a slew of autumnal events.
Stephen Emms writes a weekly Substack called Leytonstoner about the food and drink scene primarily in Leyton, Leytonstone, Stratford, Forest Gate and Walthamstow.
