The Bermondsey Bar, SE1

Just a short distance from one of the side entrances to London Bridge station, this is a slightly odd craft beer bar and cafe space. You enter through a sizable courtyard space with loads of hard bench seating, much of which is under shelter, with bunting and lights strung around it to create quite a pleasant al fresco space. Once inside, you find yourself in a very strange feeling room with an asphalt floor that looks like the bar has been built directly on top of a former car park. The bar runs down the left portion of the rear wall and has a basic timber clad counter and matching bar back. There’s a decent sized seating area opposite, with high tables and stools along the front wall and basic tables and chairs through the centre, running past the bar and adjacent open kitchen area. Eventually, the room opens out to the right, in a space with bare brick walls and liberally applied strings of fairy lights, which seems to have been set up as more of a dining space, although the same table and chair seating arrangements continue through here from the bar area. Walls have been decorated with some cool looking retro-style posters, although upon closer inspection, they turn out to just be promotional adverts for the pub rather than anything of any significance. A TV screen to the left was turned off in favour of a good Sunday afternoon jazz soundtrack which helped drown out the noise created by a sizable number of children who happened to be in attendance during my visit. Despite turning up at around 17:15 on a Sunday afternoon, I was advised on entry that the place would be closing soon, so I would only have time for one drink. There’s no cask ale here, and no beer boards to help you navigate the sixteen keg lines that seemed to offer a mix of mainstream brands and local craft beer options. I forgot to check whether they still served beer from the Lost Rivers Brewery, opting instead for the London Beer Factory Day Dreamer, which was a decent enough drop. The staff all seemed very polite and friendly and I can imagine you could get a decent atmosphere here, especially in the courtyard on a bright summer’s day. This is a pretty good attempt at a compromise between a craft beer bar and a cafe/restaurant aimed at people who aren’t prepared to traipse along a mile of cold railway arches to get some interesting keg beers. It was a little too trendy and food-oriented for my personal taste, but I can see why it’s popular and you could do a lot worse if you’re looking for one final watering hole at this end of the Bermondsey Beer Mile.