The Spurstowe Arms
Dough Hands run the pizza oven here Tuesday through Sunday, and the tomato pie with stracciatella is the one to order.1
Why go
The kitchen is a residency, not the pub's own, and it is the reason to come. Rianne Shlebak scored it 8.2 for The Infatuation and described the style precisely: self-declared London-style
pizzas that fall somewhere between classic New York-style and Neapolitan
.1
Her breakdown is the ordering guide. The toppings lean New York, tomato pie with stracciatella or 'nduja and hot honey, while the charred pillowy crusts and flop factor can lean slightly Neapolitan
. The marinara goes on evenly across a crisp base, and adding stracciatella gives you bites of creamy cheese against the tomato rather than a blanket over it.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tomato pie, with stracciatella added.1
- Order: the tuna second, which the same review puts just behind.1
- Avoid: Monday. The residency runs Tuesday to Sunday.1
What locals & experts say
- Rianne Shlebak, The Infatuation, August 2024, rating 8.2:
The toppings—tomato pie with stracciatella, or 'nduja and hot honey—lean NYC, while the charred pillowy crusts and flop factor can lean slightly Neapolitan. Either way the thin pies are excellent.
1 - The same review, on the room:
On any given weekend The Spurstowe Arms is filled with more cowboy boots and mullets than the Texas State Fair.
1 - Whose review this is: the review is of Dough Hands, which cooks here. Nobody has reviewed the pub itself.
Good to know
- Where: 68 Greenwood Road E8 1AB, off Dalston Lane. Hackney Downs and Dalston Junction are both close.
- Pizza nights: Tuesday to Sunday.1
- Booking: walk in.
- Hours: not published anywhere a fetch can read. The pub's own site renders as a script shell.
Verdict
should-visit — You come here for a pizza residency and the pub is the room it happens in. Dough Hands run Tuesday to Sunday and call their own pies London-style, which Rianne Shlebak unpacks properly for The Infatuation: the toppings lean New York, tomato pie with stracciatella or 'nduja and hot honey, while the charred pillowy crust and the flop lean Neapolitan. She scored it 8.2 and ranked the tomato pie first with the citrussy spicy tuna behind it, and the practical note is that stracciatella is an extra worth paying for, because it lands in bites against the marinara instead of covering it. The rung reflects that the cooking is a tenant: the pizza is very good and the pub itself is undocumented, right down to its hours.