Wing and a Prayer, E5

This looks like a fairly regular street corner pub on approach, but upon entering it becomes clear that this is in fact a modern craft beer bar with the resultant dull makeover that such establishments usually demand. This essentially means we find a pretty plain L-shaped room with exposed floorboards and a similarly shaped servery to the rear right. The bar has a tongue and groove panelled counter and bar back, with the latter decorated with lots of hipster-style art. The room tapers off to the right where some small tables are served by chairs, but it opens out nicely to the left, allowing ample space for upholstered banquettes to run around the perimeter as the room extends to the rear. Scrubbed tables are a bit of a non-feature and there is a sizeable open-plan standing area which adds to the bland feel of the interior. The room has been decorated in a drab neutral colour scheme, mostly grey, brightened up somewhat by the occasional framed print, a beer board to the front left (although the beer menus at the bar were a lot easier to read) and some beer fridges to the side of the servery. Stairs lead down to a small, unwelcoming basement room with quite a bit more seating but even less charm, which is saying something. For best results, a seat out on the front pavement might be the way to get around the interior design atrocities within. A hip indie soundtrack played quietly in the background and I don’t recall spotting any TV screens. There are a total of seventeen keg beer lines and a further two dispensing keg ciders, but cask ale is conspicuous by its absence. After consulting the handy printed menus on the bar, I opted for the catchy-named Cloudwater DDH IPA Enigma Chinook which turned out to be a cloudy mess probably better enjoyed with a spoon than from the glass. It had an overwhelming yeast flavour, but such is the way with these craft beers that you can’t question such gunk as it is doubtless an unfined brew that is supposed to taste like you’re licking the bottom of the fermenting vessel. This place was a bit of a disaster from what I experienced, suffering from the sort of makeover that seems so unutterably unloveable that you have to wonder who thought it would be a good idea in the first place. Added to this, my beer was a rotten affair and the prices, although not noted by me on this visit, were far from good value. Not somewhere I’ll be heading back to in a hurry.

Wedge-shaped building with rather doom-laden dark grey paintwork, clearly shouting "here be a craft keggery" at all and sundry... The interior featured a slightly lighter two-tone colour scheme and fairly minimalist furniture. Also has a number of outside table on a narrow terrace. A wall-mounted board in the corner announced a total of 18 keg beers and ciders in a wide variety of styles which were available from the anonymous taps, from which I went for the Amager Khaleesi IPA imported from Denmark (£2.90, half).

Just about everywhere in here was painted a sort of khaki colour, and there were arty prints all over the place that meant nothing to me. The board in the corner listing the beers, with prices and ABVs was useful - in fact absolutely essential as the tap fonts didn't identify the beers available. The only beers available were keg "craft" beers, but I guess they still get people coming in and asking for a pint of lager. It was as expensive as you would expect. This is not really my sort of place, but I guess one should drop into this sort of place every now and again to see how the other half lives.

A single roomed craft keg pub with a decent range of beers in varying styles and prices,none of which were particularly cheap,but this is the nature of the beast and as such It was ok as was my Beavertown Neck Oil at £2.50 for a half, although It wouldn't be top of my list I would be happy to call by again.