Beer Rebellion, Peckham, SE15

Official site of Beer Rebellion - beerrebellion.org

Official site of Beer Rebellion - beerrebellion.org

This shop converted bar opened in the Summer of 2014, becoming the third outlet for Penge's Late Knights Brewery. I say 'shop converted', but in reality very little converting has taken place here, with the shop fixtures having been ripped out, a servery installed and some uncomfortable seating introduced to fill the rest of the room. An exposed, uneven concrete floor does battle with the undressed right hand wall for the pub's ugliest feature. The wall has been 'decorated' with a few shelves full of various trinkets, but this really does little to redeem the look and I was glad that I was visiting in the evening when the muted lighting obscured the worst of the interior design failures and actually helped create a reasonably warm ambiance. In fact, the lights were dimmed to such a degree that on approach, I thought the place was shut and nearly walked on past. A few picnic benches stand inside under the large front windows, with high tables and stools running in two rows through the centre of the pub. On my table there was a small box, closed with a metal clasp, which when opened appeared to be full of a selection of hops used to brew one of the Late Knights beers. Further back, a surreal mural surrounds some windows that give you a view of the 'cellar', whilst over to the right is a nice set of shelves designed to hold the bar's glassware. The bar is on the rear wall, with the pumps on the counter and several keg taps on the left hand wall, close to the aforementioned cellar. The place generates a lot of noise, perhaps as a result of a lack of soft furnishing, with the chatter of the crowd competing with piped music on my Friday night visit. There were four Late Knights brews available on handpull - Crack of Dawn, Morning Glory, Frosty Morning and Penge Porter - with Gipsy Hill Southpaw as the sole guest ale. Two real ciders were also listed on the large beer board to one side of the bar and I counted ten keg offerings from the likes of Roosters, Anspach and Hobday and, of course, Late Knights. The staff were very friendly and helpful and my pint of Penge Porter (£3.60) was in very good shape. This is a bit of a frustrating place, as I really enjoyed the beer here and thought the service was great, but it's so hard to get comfy and settle down that I can't envisage ever getting through a decent session in here. I'm not really sure why bars like this are content to leave the place looking like the refurbishment was abandoned midway through, but it doesn't do them any favours. A bit more care and attention to the premises and this could be a real winner.

Seems to have changed since Rex was here.Warm colours, modern,plush and cosy.Only kidding.Its a dump with a bar at the rear of what was a shop.Watch you don't trip or stumble on the pitted concrete floor.Good beer selection but my two cask choices were a bit warm.Cheap prices for cask.Big beer board so they obviously spent more money on chalk than on the interior.

There's a chalkboard next to the bar counter at the back that helpfully lists the beers available, together with brewery, ABV and price. The pumps here aren't clipped so this board is essential. Of the dozen or so beers listed the bottom four are cask ales, with generally two from Late Knights Brewery along with a couple of guests. Unfortunately the board didn't specify beer styles, but the barman was very helpful in this respect, offering a taster. The two guest ales were from Brass Castle brewery, and I went for the superb Tail Gunner. All the cask ales were £3.40 a pint, which is a not unreasonable price. I didn't see any sign of food. This shop conversion pub is very unprepossessing, to put it mildly. The floor is rough concrete; the walls are mainly rough plaster; furnishings are are tall or normal height picnic bench style tables, coupled with either tall or low cheap plastic stools. One of the walls has a most unusual mural painted on it, and there are also one or two tables outside on the pavement. This is a very basic shop conversion bar where comfort doesn't seem to be a priority. But a massive plus is that ale quality does seem to be a priority as my pint of Tail Gunner was in superb condition.