Substation, Bermondsey, SE16

This is a pretty small venue on the Mile. Now in the Battersea stable. Had been here in the Spartan days. Little outside seating area plus a mezzanine area. Had a pint of the Admiral’s Best on hand pump. A traditional brown ale at 4.5% abv. Quaffable but noting like the selection in their venue near Battersea Bridge. Things were rocking in the Three Hills venue next door so felt like a saddo sitting in the venue with zero other punters with all the action next door in a previously visited venue. Still that’s now two venues on the site unvisited in Central London. One east next week one a massive logistical challenge!

One of many similar establishments forming part of the famous Bermondsey Beer Mile, like many of the others this is located in the arches under the railway track, and is of course a brewery tap rather than a pub, and this is reflected in the somewhat industrial style décor, if one could go so far as calling it that. The flooring was some type of concrete screed, whilst the usual white corrugated iron of these establishments was cladding the ceiling in order to channel the continually dripping water from the tunnel roof away from the punters underneath, although the walls appeared to be some sort of painted breeze block. There was no seating downstairs, and in fact very little space at all, with just some limited standing room in front of the bar counter. A mezzanine level floor had been constructed which did offer some seating, although this somehow lacked much in the way of any atmosphere, perhaps as there was nobody else up there on our visit. A row of large stainless steel brewing vessels were along the left hand wall reminding you that this is of course a working brewery, and old kegs had been pressed in to use as supports for the tables. Son of Zeus was the only cask option available, and keg options too seemed fairly limited with just Trade Winds Extra Pale and River Styx London Porter. The solitary cider meanwhile was Duckchicken’s Easterhill Dry, which was a new one on me. Overall I felt this was a little too much of an industrial unit with little effort having been made to accommodate visitors, and I thought that there were certainly more appealing options in the vicinity. Perhaps the clue was in the name.