Mother’s Ruin

I know I keep banging on about Ravenswood Industrial Estate, but I can’t help it. This group of industrial units nestled around a car park has fast become one of my favorite places to visit. Since Wildcard Brewery opened their tap bar, I’ve spent many a happy hour drinking Jack of Clubs and  started out putting the world to rights. Just across from the brewery is Gods Own Junkyard, whenever we have friends visiting we take them to stare wide eyed at the neon wonderland. There is a third place on the estate that warrants a visit, Mothers Ruin gin palace, which is also home to Cakes Aura Rosa. Mother left her previous home in Wood Street Market and moved in to the estate a while ago, but until yesterday we hadn’t visited. We’ve been intending to go for a while, but each time we planned a visit we got waylaid at Wildcard and never made it that extra few feet to Mothers new place.

The new gin palace is housed in the same block as Gods Own Junk Yard. The building its self is a former munitions factory that has been divided up in to smaller units. From the outside the gin palace looks just like the other industrial units, but the inside paints a very different picture. The unit has a very high roof with a skylight that stretches the full length of the building, flooding the inside with sunlight. The white painted walls are host to various pieces of art by local artist Carl Harris, the mezzanine level of the unit is also home to Carl’s studio. I was particularly taken by the large painting of a bear that gazed down at me from the wall by the end of the bar. Another former resident of Wood Street Market, Cakes Aura Rosa, have made their new home in the kitchen that takes up one side of the new palace. My initial impressions, local artist, cake and gin, whats not to like?

The cocktail menu is pretty impressive, we spent a little longer than we probably should have done deciding what we wanted. I went for a London Lemonade which was made with Gin, cloudy lemonade and cucumber. My other half had a Damson Gin Sour, made from Mothers own Damson Gin, Bourbon and lemon juice. Both drinks were lovely, though I did have a bit of drink envy over the Damson Sour. As we waited for our drinks to be made, we gazed at the selection of cakes on sale, all made by Aura Rosa. There was a fantastic kitkit cake which had been made to raise money for the local food bank Eat or Heat, we bought a slice today at the fundraising event and it was truly amazing. If cakes aren’t your thing, various bar snacks are available including, Empanadas, Sabroso Pork Roll, and Spanish Cocktail snacks. The combination of good cocktails, good food and a relaxed atmosphere make the gin palace a great place to spend a lazy afternoon or evening. I’m kicking my self that it took us so long to pay the palace a visit.

A cocktail bar and freshly made cakes aren’t what you expect to find on an industrial estate in East London, but the combination seems to really work. And besides, this isn’t just any old industrial estate, this is Gods Own Industrial estate where anything seems possible. Mothers Ruin is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and should definitely from part of the places you really need to visit in Walthamstow list.