The Cock Tavern, Hackney Central, E8

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.

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.

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.