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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about Craft Beer Co
Friday was my first visit here in 5½ years. We were seated in the upstairs room with its bright coloured furnishings. There is also a smaller ground floor bar and quite a large outdoor seating area, which wasn't particularly appealing in the inclement weather.
Redemption Rock the Kazbek & Thornbridge Jaipur & Lord Marples were the 3 real ales on offer. Ciders were from Lilley's - Star Gazer or Mango Cider, but the former was carbonated and not very nice. As usual, there was also a large selection of craft beers.
Our seats by the windows gave us a prime view of the railway line and local buildings outside. I'm not a massive fan of the Craft Beer Co chain, but they are certainly fairly reliable and you know what you'll get.
On 24th May 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2493 recommendations about 2492 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Craft Beer Co
This place has improved considerably since my first visit over five years ago. Gone are those ridiculous cycle framed chairs to be replaced by more standard tall tables/tall stools. They are not ideal in my opinion, but definitely an improvement.
A more recent refurbishment has provided a floor that appears to comprise light/medium/dark coloured lozenge shaped wooden blocks giving it a very realistic 3D effect. Effective and very different. The ceiling's hexagonal shaped mirror panels. I've been told the upstairs room is equally worth visiting for its refurb, but I missed out as I had forgotten it was up there! The whole effect is quite dramatic.
This place is slap bang in the middle of Brixton Market, and one can (if you so wish) immerse yourself in the vibrancy of the market by utilising the outside seating, some of which is in the adjacent alleyway where an art display is on the wall of the neighbouring building. There are still loads of real ales available, plus a cider. This one is certainly worth visiting for the beer, and a butcher's at the unusual decor.
On 6th April 2019
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about Craft Beer Co
One room with bar to the left. Seven hand pumps, six real ales, one cider. Loads of bottles and cans in fridges under the bar. Would return if in the area.
On 6th September 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Craft Beer Co
Very basic bar, even for a Craft Beer Co outlet, with no real money spent on furniture or decor. Also has some patio tables out front. On the plus side, usually has a fine selection from the ten handpumps and 20 craft beer / cider taps. On this visit, I noted three real ales from Gun Brewery (including an excellent Parabellum milk stout, £4.55) plus a couple of Dark Star, one from Hawkshead and the 'house' Pale amongst other things.
On 25th November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Craft Beer Co
A pretty basic place, with a small bar downstairs which has little in the way of seating; however there is a larger and more useful upstairs room. Pretty unimpressive as a venue, with a yucky off-salmon colour scheme, quite grubby in places and with uncleared and sticky tables. Ten pumps on the copper counter with nine ales and a cider, plus what’s best described as a ‘keg flyover’ with 14 on. Tried the Brixton Effra (murky but drinkable), Marble IPA (extremely good) and Redemption Urban Dusk (very good). Expensive at £4.35-£4.65 a pint with the keg being pretty much over a fiver in most cases. I think this is the weakest of the CBCo pubs, the down-at-heel grubbiness didn’t endear it to me with the high-end prices thrown in. This is Brixton, after all. I may pop back if I’m in the area and it’s quiet but wouldn’t make a special trip out again. 6.5
On 26th October 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5107 recommendations about 5090 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about Craft Beer Co
I agree this place lacks plenty in terms of ambience and certainly comfort, however the beer range and variety is first class. The interior is best described politely as minimalist, a small ground floor area with the bar at the back, salmon pink walls, a few high tables with tall stools fashioned from cycle parts, the pedals being fixed footrests, a set of what looked to be American traffic lights plus a few framed advertisements and a row of framed bottle opener pictures; something to do with Brixton Brewery I think.
The bar hosts ten handpumps plus around twenty keg fonts above the bar housed on a large diameter bit of copper pipe. The bar counter is also copper, below which there are a series of fridges containing an interesting looking selection of bottled beers and ciders.
The handpumps contained beers from Magic Rock, Ilkley, Kent Brewery, Oakham, Siren, the house Pale Ale plus a cider from Millwhites. As in other Craft bars beers are priced by abv, in here from £3.45 up to £4.95 for the big hitters over 7%, the cider is a less reasonable £5.10.
Food is limited to snacks in the form of a variety of sausage rolls and scotch eggs.
There was no music or TV however the presence of speakers high on the walls indicated that music gets some play time perhaps not during the afternoons.
More space upstairs I understand, I didn't look, plus al fresco seating outside to the front which allows one to partake in the myriad of enticing smells from the food stalls of the adjacent market.
It is a very basic pub with awful seating arrangements but as others have said, the beer is the main draw here. My pint of Ilkley Lotus IPA was top notch.
On 22nd June 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Craft Beer Co
I quite liked this bar,it is a bar rather than a pub, on my Saturday afternoon visit I found it quite a vibrant place,the market in full swing outside added to the general ambiance. As Rex mentions below it is about the beer ,and a good selection was in evidence with all 10 pumps operational and 20 keg taps for the craft buffs.My pint of Oakham Paranoid,a beer I was previously unaware of was very good.I would have no problem returning here.
On 8th June 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1879 recommendations about 1852 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Craft Beer Co
This is one of the most basic pubs I’ve been in, sited in a shop conversion – and a small shop at that. Seats are still recycled cycle parts (not a phrase often used in reviews) with round steel topped tables. This is a contender for the most uncomfortable pub seating I’ve encountered. The upstairs room has slightly less uncomfortable furnishings, but is very plain, with the only thing of note being the large black and white brewing related photographs on the walls.
But this place is all about the beer with, as mentioned below, seven or eight of the ten handpumps in operation with none of the usual suspects in evidence. Unfortunately the lowest ABV real ale was a 4.7% American Brown Ale from the Kent Brewery. I had a superb pint of Three Friends Brewery Amber Ale, at £3.95 for a 5% ale. There was no sign of food or menus when we were in at opening time on Saturday.
To be honest I wasn’t very impressed with this place as a pub, and if it wasn’t for the excellent ale on offer I wouldn’t walk through the door. This is somewhere to come for an excellent pint, if not in comfortable surroundings.
On 15th December 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Craft Beer Co
Have found this bar very quiet on the 3 visits.Wont win any awards for style thats for sure.Good range of beers but the bottle prices are mega.Although this is my least fav pub in this chain its a good addition to the Brixton scene.
On 8th February 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Craft Beer Co
This is the latest venture from the Craft Beer Co chain, located in amongst the railway arches and market stalls of Brixton Station Road. As with their Clerkenwell branch, it is the beer that takes centre stage and this is apparent as soon as you see the ten hand pumps and twenty keg taps that adorn the bar. The keg taps are mounted on an unusual construction which is built above the actual bar counter so you find yourself communicating to the bar staff through the gap between the taps above you and the hand pumps on the bar counter below. The cask options included Craft Beer Co regulars such as Magic Rock, Buxton, Dark Star and Acorn and the pricing system matched that of their sister pubs. I gave the Thornbridge Late Star and Buxton Dark Nights a try and found both in good condition, although the Thornbridge was served a bit too cold for my liking. All twenty keg taps were in action, offering unusual and rare beers from around the world including the house beer from Mikkeller. The fridges are located underneath the bar counter, which allows you to browse during quieter periods, but when the bar area gets blocked you can consult the beer menus which detail the range of rare, single batch beers on offer.
The interior isn’t the most exciting and fits in with the standard ‘craft beer’ bar look that we’re seeing increasingly more of across the capital. There is a simple single room main bar with large windows on two sides and walls decorated with Craft Beer Co posters and a huge neon sign. All of the seating is in the form of high stools and metal topped tables with bases made from machine parts. My table had a crank handle underneath that seemed to cause the table top to rotate which could be handy if you fancy sneakily working someone else’s pint round to where you’re sat! The stools were either padded with a pedal mechanism built into them or wooden with an adjustable height seat. Stairs at the rear lead up to a lounge type area which has more comfortable seating options and is handy to escape to during peak hours. There are also a few tables and chairs outside in a fenced off pavement area. Music played throughout my stay but it was so quiet I could barely hear it even when the place was empty.
This is another good outlet from this particular chain and although it lacks somewhat in character, the extensive and interesting beer range marks it out as the ‘must do’ pub in Brixton.
On 2nd November 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]