Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 28th April 2024) with rpadam
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Cock Tavern, E8
E8
E8 1EJ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Cock Tavern
Back in on a Sunday lunchtime and it was a much more pleasant experience than the first time I visited on a Saturday evening when it was rammed to a level to be uncomfortable.
As others have reported the Cock Tavern follows the now usual formula for this new breed of Craft and Cask pubs with its minimalist internal décor, bare wood floor and bare plain painted walls and a large chalk board on a far wall. The difference here is that the large array of pumps and taps around the bar are clipped so you can tell the beers from the bar, whereas the chalk board gives you more information to what’s actually in the fermentation tanks and conditioning in the microbrewery below your feet.
Tried a couple of the Howling Hops brews in the shape of the Rye Wit IPA and the Milk Stout and the latter was particularly good..
Definitely highly recommended for anyone with a liking for Ale, but this type of place will not be everyone’s cup of tea, as proved by the three high viz jacket clad builders that wandered in from an adjacent building site and walked out again when they couldn’t see anything dispensing Stella or Strongbow.
On 14th July 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Cock Tavern
We called in on a Monday lunchtime and the pub was quiet, which was a good thing, as we had a chance to chat to the brewer named Jam and the beard friendly bar staff and the young lady without a beard, of course. Also a fellow beer customer, added to good conversation. We really liked the beer we picked in here and found their Howling Hops Brewery beer to be very flavoursome and moreish. The pub is basic and dull in décor, but the beer was the main attraction. Would defo call again.
On 19th February 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Cock Tavern
The new(ish) - 2012 - sister pub to the Southampton in Kentish Town and in here they brew (Howling Hops). Like the Southampton, it’s a traditional aged building. Classic London flat-iron shaped exterior with some traditional tiling and signage (ex-Trumans). Like the Southampton, it’s alehouse-spartan-chic inside the opened-out interior, a no-frills wood floor and seating place. A bit on the gloomy side, maybe. Upright piano spotted. Huge amount of pumps at the bar (was it 16?) with a large selection of ales and ciders, with a few from Howling Hops alongside guests. My Howling Hops Oatmeal Stout was in fair form. Also an impressive range of ciders and some craft keg and bottles. Like the Soton, no hot food - just pork pies and scotch eggs. Well-worth seeking out, although for me it didn’t quite hit the high of its sister pub on first viewing, though I’d had a few hefty ales by this point. Handily located close to the station so you don’t need to venture too far into the badlands.
On 7th January 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Cock Tavern
The Cock Tavern is situated in the middle of Hackney.
The pub still has its original Trumans signage on the corner front.
Once inside there is an L shaped room which is bare boarded,the seating is normal tables and chairs,there was a very good choice of real ales on the bar,too many for me to take in at this time of day,i had a drink of beer from Howlings which i think began with Sun,this was a nice drink.
The pub was packed on my Saturday evening visit,no doubt for the real ales on offer here.
If you like real ales this is the pub to visit.
Pub visited 4/10/2014
On 4th October 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Cock Tavern
The original Truman’s signage remains on the exterior, but there’s little of heritage value inside. But the only reason you come here is for the beer. This pub is home to the Howling Hops Brewery, and they had on several of their ales when I visited at Wednesday lunchtime. Their Amber Ale was in great shape. Real ale and cider is definitely the king here, with more handpumps in use than you could shake a stick at. Real ales are £3.40 a pint, and reassuringly only £1.70 a half. I didn’t see any printed menus, but I did spot a large jar of pickled eggs behind the bar, and a chalkboard offering other haute cuisine delicacies such as pork pies. There are all kind of mismatched tables and chairs in here, consisting mainly of basic, solid, well used items. Comfort doesn’t seem to be a great priority here. There are no TVs or fruit machines to distract the discerning drinker from the serious business of ale drinking.
This pub reminds me a lot of its sister pub The Southampton Arms (which is a good thing), in that it’s furnished for functionality rather than comfort. This is a destination pub for anyone visiting Hackney, and I expect to be visiting again shortly.
On 20th March 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Cock Tavern
I finally made a long overdue visit to this new brewpub from the people behind the Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak. The pub is, like its sister pub, much smaller than I’d anticipated with a simple L shaped layout accessed from a corner entrance which takes you into the bare boarded room with a curved L shape bar counter. The pub has an unusual feel of a modern craft beer bar within a traditional pub setting, which sets it apart from the majority of its competitors. Pew and low stool seating runs underneath the front windows and either side of the servery and the walls have been decorated with a few items of brewerania including a nice sign and mirror for Wenlock Ales, plus a few old photos here and there and some attractive wood panelling in the rear right corner. As a nod to the Southampton Arms, the bar back features white tiling, although a stuffed cockerel stood amongst the spirit bottles reminds you which pub you are actually in. The beer garden to the rear left is a bit of a letdown, consisting of a small yard with a few benches attached to the high surrounding walls.
The real star here of course, is the beer, and most notably those from the in house Howling Hops Brewery. Five of their ales were available on handpull when I arrived – Pale, XX Pale, WIT IPA, Porter and Export Porter. These were supplemented by Redemption Fellowship Porter, Five Points Pale Ale and something from Brodies that went off before I had time to note it down. A pretty decent selection mostly priced around the £3.40 mark, although it was a bit odd to have three porters on simultaneously. I enjoyed the HH Pale and Export Porter. Keg beers were priced closer to the £3.90 mark and included three more Howling Hops brews, Marble Emancipation and Camden Hells among others. There were also no less than seven real ciders/perries and an extensive bottle beer range.
Having set the bar high with the Southampton Arms, this place had a lot to live up to and seems to have coped well with the expectations. A destination pub for sure and although I wasn’t quite as blown away as I’d expected to be, I’d make this my first port of call whenever I find myself in the area.
On 1st September 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Cock Tavern
Very impressed with this pub, it feels like a real pub as soon as you walk in ,the pub is adequately and well described by Aqualung in the review below,the two Howling Hops beers I tried ,both new to me were in excellent shape the American Light Ale and the Smoked Porter was in my top two of the day.A highly recommended pub and one I shall be returning to.
On 16th June 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1875 recommendations about 1848 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Cock Tavern
Update 04/05/2013
The howling Hops brewery seems to be going from strength to strength as today five of the eight beer pumps were selling the home made stuff.
I tried their Rye Wit at £3.50 which was a fairly typical cloudy wheat beer, not one of my favourite styles but it was enjoyable enough. I also tried the local Five Points Hook Island Red (£3.60) which was also in excellent condition. I was impressed by the fact that the young lass serving didn't give me the default dimple jug. She reckoned that she can tell who likes straight glasses and who prefers jugs, so if you're a miserable old git and prefer a dimple jug then you may have to ask.
I had a glance at the eight keg offerings and noted that there were Camden Town products and Magic Rock Dark Arts among them. Of the eight ciders none were names that I recognised but the name Millhouse appeared more than once. If we get a spell of warm weather this summer I will come down here to give the ciders a go. I was told they are all priced at £3.60. Of the four Hackney pubs visited on a Saturday afternoon this was easily the best.
Visit 14/12/2012
If you've been to their sister pub the Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak you will know exactly what to expect here. It's a basic stripped back decor with I think it was sixteen handpumps, half of which were selling ciders.
The differences between here and the Southampton are that it's a slightly larger corner pub, it includes a row of keg products and it has it's own 4 barrel brewery somewhere downstairs. This brewery provides beer just for the two pubs, so I was told.
I had a pint of Howling Hops American Amber at £3.30 and an East London Brewing Company Quadrant Oatmeal Stout at £3.50, both in excellent condition.
Given the fact that it is in East not North London and houses the brewery I give this one the edge over the Southampton.
On 5th May 2013
- rating: 10
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Cock Tavern
lovely addition to the Hackney beer scene.The atraction is definitely the beer as the Howling Hops brewer knows what he is doing.Great beer ,reasonable prices and nice traditional style pub.
On 1st February 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about Cock Tavern Pub
We really liked this pub just a short walk from Hackney Central Station. It was a comfortable traditional corner pub serving good ale from their own Howling Hops brewery. We enjoyed Ruby Red and Summer, and were leaving when we found another couple had been put on, so stayed a while for a couple more, the Mild and Chocolate Stout. There is a small, and I do mean small, beer garden.
On 24th November 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]