Upminster TapRoom, Upminster

In most regards The Upminster Tap Room is your regular micro pub set up with beers, all local as far as I could tell, brought out from the cool room; there's ciders and some craft keg. It's all a bit cramped inside, with as many tables as they can fit in the rectangular room - these are high, with seats to match. Outside there's a garden (more yard really) with seats and shelter, though with understandably few takers on a bitterly cold evening. The difference is in the table service as there's no bar and you pay your tab on exit (cask ale was around the £5 mark on my recent visit). Good beer and friendly, albeit with a slight "local pub for local people" feel, but certainly worth a second shot if I ever find myself out this way again.

This is quite a quirky micropub in the middle of Upminster, with a tile floored, single room interior and no servery. The room has been painted in neutral shades, but much of the wall space has been covered with a massive pump clip collection and a load of enamel beer signs, as well as tap and spile displays and some helpful, if not helpfully positioned, beer boards. High benches skirt around the perimeter with beer barrels beneath them, and high stools in support, with the only other seating options being the benches out in the tiny front patio garden area. A rickety looking ladder has been hung from the ceiling with a load of beer bottles suspendd from it, whilst upturned beer crates across the rest of the ceiling act as light shades. The beers are all poured from a taproom to the rear, visible through a large window on the back wall, which has the available beers listed across the top of it. A large TV screen in one corner, was switched off and presumably isn't used for live sport, with a folk soundtrack playing quietly in the background. The beer boards listed six cask ale options - Goffs Tournament, Good Chemistry Yakima Sun, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (£5.00 a pint), Brentwood Beer Outta Hell and Beertle Juice and one other that I couldnt read without having to lean across someone's table. Around 20 ciders, two keg beers and a load of bottles and cans were also available, so something for everyone. I tried the Brewers Gold and Beertle Juice, both of which were excellent and the barman was very friendly and explained how I could see what beers were on and how to order. Lots of staff were on shift on a busy Saturday night, but most kept popping outside to watch a nearby fireworks display. I really enjoyed my visit here, prolonging my stay to try some more of their great beer, and I would've quite happily spent even longer if time had permitted. I thought it was a great pub that didn't feel like your standard micropub, and I would say it's an excellent addition to Upminster's modest pub scene. Date of visit - 2nd November 2024

The pub was bustling when I got there just after 2pm on a Saturday, possibly more so than usual due to Six Nations Rugby featuring England being screened, a slight disappointment for me as for one I'm not a rugby fan plus in a small space you maybe can't get the real feel of a pub and it's regular clientele. However despite that the visit was reasonably enjoyable with I think seven Cask on priced at £4.90 across the board and a couple of key kegs along with a plethora of Ciders from Lillys, Seacider and several others. The beers were displayed individually on small boards with mounted pumpclips up on a wall behind one of the high tables, given the busy nature of the day it was hard to see them without blocking the view of the game, unless you were already familiar with the pumpclip. I went for a vocation Heart & Soul on key keg and it was a decent drop. My rating of 7 would probably be an 8 had I visited at a quieter time but it was worth the trip to the eastern outreaches of London.