BrewDog Paddington, W2

I've been meaning to visit this branch of the Brewdog chain for some time. I walked to the pub from Paddington station, which takes about 10 minutes. But it's closer to the Edgware Road tube stations. Not the easiest place to locate it can be found within a residential and retail development at the far end of the Paddington Basin. Inside, it is fairly spacious. The curved exterior allows for plenty of natural light and tables look out over the Basin. Unusually for a Brewdog pub, there was what they term cask ale, which was Anspach & Hobday The Ordinary Bitter. Although I note on WhatPub that CAMRA don't agree that it is a real ale! Craft beers were Brewdog Simcoe Solo, King Crush, Lucky Break, Post Punk, Black Heart, Pilot #35 Altersvorsoge, Pilot #36 Little Black Can, Punk IPA, Wingman, Hazy Jane, Dead Pony Club, Elvis Juice, Almost Famous & Jack Hammer, Overtone Honey Pop, Tripping Animals Ever Haze, Vault City Summer Berry Pineapple Pavlova, Mad Scientist Where I Draw The Line & Tempest Higher Grounds. Ciders from Hawkes were Urban Orchard & Dead and Berried Mixed Berry. We found the prices here quite shocking. One of my drinking colleagues has recently developed a like for sour beers, but the Vault City beer was in excess of £13 a pint. Needless to say he settled for a half. I know that Central London prices are always high and craft beer demands a premium, but I really couldn't afford to drink here that often. With the Bear having opened up much nearer to Paddington station and not charging as much, I can't see me making a return visit here.

Situated at the head of Paddington Basin,although at this end there are no boats navigating just art installations in the water.Enter at this point and the interior looks modest for this chain with low back fixed seating benches running around the windows,a small raised section underneath a red neon London Beer Basin sign and a long high table running infront of the bar with a cinema sign indicating on my trip that there are 5 BrewDog regular beers,12 rotating BrewDog beers and 9 guests with a smattering of sparkling ciders.The choice is wide in both ABV and styles and my Zombie Cake was a reasonable porter but not top of the tree.You will pay for the privilege of drinking here,under the obligatory industrial pipework. If you follow the sign to the loos,you will enter a much larger rear section with two long shuffle boards,some seating booths,regular bench seating,a raised area with a leather bound banquette and a caged area with a large central dining area with the latter two bookable by groups.Elsewhere if a table is reserved,you are given a time and an invitation to keep the seat warm until the reservee arrives,an efficient use of the space. This bar failed under several different guises,yet is a great success under BrewDog's tenure,I prefer quality cask ale but you will find a decent beer here on keg and can enjoy the front terrace which overlooks the basin.With limited options in the immediate area,this is a safe bet for a quick one.

The usual raw industrial Brewdog interior with a quirky shape that wraps around the bar and has 2 entrances/exits.

Typical BrewDog outlet with a semi-industrial look inside the irregularly shaped bar at the base of a curving tower block, but its situation at the far end of the Paddington Basin offers plenty of outside seating that make this a good spot in decent weather. 24 taps, offering the usual wide selection of their own beers, six from Northern Monk on this visit, a couple of other guests and a cider, but I went for the Zombie Cake porter (£5.80) eventually after some dithering.