Moor Vaults & Tap Room, Bermondsey, SE16

This is a bit of a tricky one to review, as the Moor Taproom establishment was clearly closed when I visited recently, only for me to trudge on in disappointment before discovering them operating out of a different arch. It transpires that they had been temporarily relocated a few arches further down the line, whilst a survey of the brickwork in their regular arch was carried out - a fate I’m led to believe that will also befall their neighbouring breweries at some point. So I’m left with the strange task of reviewing a brewery tap from its temporary new location. Perhaps best then to focus on what has been moved into the new arch, as opposed to the arch itself, which was a double arch set-up with the bar in one side and the seating area in the other - an arrangement the regulars apparently prefer to the usual single arch format of their usual location. Seating comes in the form of c canteen style tables and benches and a few high stools around upturned barrels. More barrels have been stacked up to the rear, with a brewery logo propped up on the top, and a TV screen stood on some pallets to the rear, but wasn’t in use on a Sunday afternoon. The bar, which I assume had also been moved across, had a floral print counter front and beers were listed on a basic, hand-scrawled blackboard on the back wall, with a load of brewery merch to one side. Indie tunes played at a sensible volume and I was somewhat surprised to find I was the only customer, in sharp contrast to the busy Cloudwater taproom a few doors down. The blackboards listed ten beers, but typically, the one I picked was the only one to have been taken off, so I opted for a half of the Moor resonance (£2.90), which I thought was a little bland and not up to the standard of other Moor beers I’d tried over the years - a disappointment given this is their taproom. A cider option was also listed, which isn’t a given in a lot of these beer mile venues. The barman was very friendly and explained much of the story about the temporary relocation, presumably happy to have someone to chat to at last. This was actually a pretty decent place, albeit devoid of any decoration, so a shame that it’s not the regular home of this Bristol-based brewery. From what I could see, they offer a fairly typical beer mile experience, with the prospect of some decent beer, although I got unlucky with my choice on this occasion. I’ll rate it based on what I could see had been retained from the original location, but will keep this on my to-do list so I can go back and give them a fuller appraisal once their brickwork has been given the all-clear.

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 and walls in order to channel the continually dripping water from the tunnel roof away from the punters underneath. This appears to differ from other breweries in the vicinity in as much that the beer is not actually brewed on the premises. Instead it comes from Moor’s HQ in Bristol, and is cask conditioned here. Tables has been fashioned from planks of wood affixed to beer barrels, with high metal chairs for seating. In a nod to more traditional pub décor, a few rows of exposed filament style bulbs were strung around and there was also a table football game at the front of the pub. There was also some Moor Beer merchandise for sale. Some surprisingly heavy music was playing, but at a reasonable volume still allowing for conversation. Their own beers were dispensed directly from barrels racked up behind the bar and included Revival, Nor’Hop and Smokey Horizon. Various other options were chalked up on a couple of boards behind the bar, although in most cases it wasn’t clear whether these were keg or cask, or whether they were their own brews or not. These included Wee Heavy (10½%!), Exactly That Stout, All Dayer, Claudia, PMA, Raw, Hoppiness, Old Freddy Walker, Fusion, Jed IPA, SWBA Benny Havens and Alphol. Ciders meanwhile were Oliver’s and Shezam, the latter of which went down rather well.

Official site of Moor Beer Brewery Taproom - www.moorbeer.co.uk

Official site of Moor Beer Brewery Taproom - www.moorbeer.co.uk

This section of the Bermondsey railway arches on Enid Street houses the popular Brew By Numbers microbrewery which has been in situ for a while. But this strip is now enhanced by three other bars from out of town craft brewers trying to take advantage of the Bermondsey Craft scene by opening tap rooms. Most noticeable is now Cloudwater from Manchester, who opened late last year following in the footsteps of Moor Beer from Bristol with their tap room here. I agree with Moby below that as railway arch bars go this is a good one with both internal and external bench seating space and a professional bar set up at the far end with a 12 tap keg wall and space for up to six cask ales served from the barrels visible behind a glass panel above the tap wall. There were 10 Moor Beer keg beers on offer with a couple of guests and then three of their real ales. I went for the Revival Cask ale and very good it was too. All beers are available in thirds, halves or pints with the keg beers coming in between £5 and £8 a pint depending on strength and my pint of cask was just under a fiver if I remember correctly. We almost didn’t get into this one also, but nothing to do with the crowds and more because of the excellent Pork pie and scotch egg food van parked in front of it which distracted our attention for a good while. Not really associated with the Moor Beer Tap but it did enhance our enjoyment of a visit to this section of the arches.