ReviewThe Euston Tap is a new venture – opened late in 2010 – and is housed in one of a pair of attractive looking old stone lodges at the main entrance to Euston Station, off the Euston Road. Both lodges feature some attractive external stonework and include a list of place names that are ( or were ?) places presumably served by train from this station. These stone lodges are Grade 2 listed and are apparently one of the few remaining parts of the original station which was built in the 1830’s.
On the pavement outside, a sandwich board tells us that The Euston Tap is a Craft Beer House with 27 Craft Beers on Tap. If we need any further encouragement to venture inside, we’re further told that “good people drink good beer”.
Inside, at ground level, we find a small tiled bar with, unusually, real ales being served from taps from the wall directly behind the bar. A further row of taps here serve speciality foreign lagers and beers from Germany, Belgium etc. Blackboards indicate the prices and gravities of the various offerings. An extensive array of bottled beers is also available – stored in large glass fridges at the side of the bar. The whole floor area is quite small and seating is limited to padded stools round the perimeter of the room. The walls are decorated with some framed architects drawings of the Euston Station buildings.
Further seating upstairs ( but no bar servery ) is accessed by a challenging steep spiral iron staircase. This upstairs room is rather spartan, but has some comfortable padded seats and is decorated with some further architectural drawings. Upstairs on this floor is the gents toilet ( singular ) – a room about the size of a telephone box with just a single urinal - although there is a unisex toilet room next door.
There’s some outside seating off the pavement in a small area behind iron railings. There’s also several seats on the pavement side of the railings, but, if you sit here – as I did – you can expect to be accosted at regular intervals by the local lowlife and dossers – “ spare a bit of change, guv ..etc”. These seats enable you to watch the buses coming and going from the station forecourt and enable you to breathe in the traffic fumes to one’s hearts desire.
On my recent Saturday lunchtime visit, beers on included Camden Town Brewery Bitter ( £ 2.90p ), Bristol Beer Factory Stout ( 4% ABV at £ 2.90p ) and Bristol Exhibition ( 5.2% ABV at £ 3.30p ), prices, which, by London pub standards, could justifiably be considered reasonable. Beers from Ossett and Saltaire were also on. Higher gravity foreign beers included Great Divide Titan Ale ( 7.1% at £ 3.75p for a half ) . Orchard Pig Cider was on ( 4.2% at £ 3.60p). Pizzas are available between certain times by arrangement with a nearby restaurant.
I gather that this place is under the same ownership as The Sheffield Tap ( which I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to visit recently ), although I didn’t see anything inside to indicate that this was the case. I’m not the brightest bloke in the world, but you would have thought that a few flyers on the bar top with words to the effect “ enjoyed your visit – well then visit our sister pub in Sheffield ? “ couldn’t be a bad idea.
This is an enterprising new venture and I hope it succeeds. If you haven’t been here before, you’ll probably want to pop in and I wouldn’t discourage you from doing so, but I imagine it gets impossibly busy at times – with the challenging staircase and limited toilet facilities likely to be particular problem points – and space and it’s not exactly comfortable and characterful inside. I doubt anyone would want a long session here.
I enjoyed the visit, but, having had my curiosity satisfied, I think I’ll probably leave it to the beer tickers now.
