Blue Monk, Bermondsey, SE16

Visited 16/04/26. Visited previously as Moor Vaults & Tap Room on 10/07/21. No cask on this visit. They do ordinarily have a single hand pump operational, but between casks on my visit (bit strange as it was a Thursday evening and they only open each week starting on a Thursday). Keg offering of their own branded Blue Monk lager, Asahi, Roadie session IPA and Backstage IPA both from Signature Brew, Guinness, Verdant Light Bulb, Siren Lumina, Thornbridge Green Mountain a session NEIPA, Yonder Pineapple Crush a tropical sour and Cornish Orchards Gold cider. Recently re-opened as this new venue on the Bermondsey Beer Mile. This one portrays itself as a live music bar, with a stage at the rear end of the arch space beyond the front bar area. As with the rest of the ground floor, there is a concrete floor and tables down the left- and right-hand sides along the length from the rear to the stage. The venue has a small amount of standing space at the front, and the bar counter is at the rear part of the glass fronted entrance area, towards the right-hand side and to the right of the open walk through to the stage area. There is a modest amount of seating in the front bar. A staircase just inside the entrance takes you up to the mezzanine seating area, which also hosts a dart board. A bit different to other venues on the BBM!

Official site of Blue Monk - www.thebluemonklondon.com

Official site of Blue Monk - www.thebluemonklondon.com

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.