BrewDog Clerkenwell, Clerkenwell, EC1

Split-level layout, with the entrance leading into the main 'L'-shaped seating area and to a flight of steps down to the bar area with some further tables. Diner-style furniture and decor. Two banks of nine craft keg taps on the bar-back, offering the usual diverse range of styles and strengths (nearly half of which were guests), but I opted for the Jet Black Heart (£2.95, half).

Official site of BrewDog - www.brewdog.com

Official site of BrewDog - www.brewdog.com

This compact split level premises on the busy Clerkenwell Road has gone through a number of guises in recent years and was relaunched as the sixth London outlet for the ever expanding Brewdog chain in late 2015. As with other newer Brewdog bars, I found the style of this place significantly more palatable than in some of their earlier attempts, and felt the split-level effect created here was put to particularly good use. You enter into an upper gallery of sorts - an L-shaped seating area running along the front and right hand sides. Padded banquettes can be found down the right side, whilst some nice bench booths run under the large front windows, with a few high tables and stools along the rail that looks down into the lower bar area (well described as a 'cockpit' in the review below). Here, a few more banquettes and high tables with stools are arranged under the rail and opposite the bar which spans the rear wall. The bar has a plain counter with an ugly, concrete-effect counter. Obscured windows line the bar back and have been draped with various bits of Brewdog merchandise. The ubiquitous cinema-style beer board is to the left, above a hatch for the kitchen and to one side of this there is a large neon sign which reads 'Craft Beer Spoken Here'. The whole pub has bare floorboards and tatty exposed brick walls, which fit surprisingly well with the smarter furnishings within. As with all Brewdog bars, cask beer is conspicuous by its absence, with the usual unmarked keg fonts requiring scrutiny of the aforementioned beer board. Brewdog beers available on this visit were Punk IPA, This is Lager, Born to Die, Shipwreck, Jet Black Heart and 5am Saint. Guest beers included brews from the likes of Orbit, Kernel, Anspach & Hobday and Siren. Most of the Brewdog beers were overpriced at £5.50 a pint, although the usual complex price/measurement system made it more complicated to work out the relative cost of the guests. A very good bottle and can range was also available, listed in menus on the bar. The usual friendly and helpful staff were present and correct, with my barmaid careful to ensure a good pour of the Jet Black Heart, which was a little light on flavour by Brewdog standards. I thought Brewdog had done a good job with this place, which was very busy with a young post-work crowd on my Friday evening visit. One of the big drawbacks with Brewdog bars for me, is their unnecessary over-pricing, which is slightly more restrained outside the capital, but excessive in a bar like this, and it is this that would put me off from making repeat visits. However, it remains a good bar and worth a look if you're feeling a little flush.