The Palm Tree, Mile End
heritage listed pub within Mile End Park, London
The Palm Tree is a Grade II listed public house at 127 Grove Road, Mile End, and is within Mile End Park.
It was built in 1935 for Truman's Brewery and designed by Eedle and Meyers. Originally occupying the corner of a terraced street, The Palm Tree's surrounding buildings were heavily bombed during The Blitz, before being demolished and replaced by emergency Prefabs. These too were eventually demolished, leaving only the pub standing.
It was Grade II listed in 2015 by Historic England.
The pub was used as a filming location during the TV series Luther for the third episode of the third series and the 2010 short film Half Hearted.
In 2024 the Guardian reported that "In the Palm Tree pub, east London, barman Alf is taking only cash at the rattling 1960s till. The building, which is Grade II-listed, stands in the middle of Mile End Park, and Alf has worked here since 1976."
Time Out ranked the pub at 5th in its list of best pubs in London.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Palm Tree, Mile End” is heritage listed pub within Mile End Park, London. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Palm, Tree and Mile, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “heritage listed pub within Mile End Park, London” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21008686. Authority coordinates are 51.529, -0.041. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2015, 2010 and 2024.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Palm Tree, Mile End”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Palm Tree, Mile End primary sources, The Palm Tree, Mile End archive and Palm research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Palm Tree, Mile End”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Palm Tree, Mile End” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.