Beer + Burger, Dalston, E8

One of several bar/diners opened by this small burger and craft beer chain, this Dalston branch has a very narrow but deep interior and feels a lot more food led than other branches I’ve seen. The room, which looks like some sort of shop conversion to me, has rough, exposed concrete flooring, ancient looking brickwork painted in a two-tone colour scheme plus a decidedly ugly chipboard rear wall. There is limited seating in the front half of the premises, with a few high tables and stools down the left-hand side, broken up by the odd upturned barrel which have been left for people to stand around. There’s no seating to the right, as this wall has been given over to numerous fridges which are all amply stocked with craft beer bottles and cans. The servery appears on the right wall too, running all the way to the back of the room. It has a very basic counter with a few bar stools along it, a quite pleasant geometric pattern bar back with the craft keg taps set into it and a very messy beer board written in a felt-tip scrawl. The far end of the servery has been given over to the burger-flippers, beneath a large neon pub sign, whilst to the other side there is a collection of craft keg tap inserts on display. High bench booths have been squeezed into the space opposite the bar, making for a pretty uncomfortable selection of seating options throughout. There are 12 keg taps on the bar back, one of which was off on my visit and another of which was dispensing a cider. The rest were all churning out suitably overpriced craft beers and I tried the Two Tribes Metro Land (£5.50 a pint), which was very tasty and served up by a friendly, if somewhat bored looking barmaid. A few other punters were in, all eating from the burger menu which looked the same as that seen in other branches of this chain. There’s something about these bars that doesn’t quite click with me for some reason, and this place didn’t really do anything to remedy that. As a concept, it’s simple and effective – good craft beer with tasty burgers has to be a winning combination, but this place feels cramped, scruffy and uncomfortable, therefore not really lending itself to a longer visit. For a quick craft beer fix/emptying of your wallet, you can’t go wrong, but better beer in proper pubs can be found a short distance away.

Smaller than their other - more modern - outlets that I have visited, but the deal is much the same... It is housed in a narrow terraced (former shop) unit, with scarcely enough space to walk between the bottle-shop fridges on one side and a row of tiny tall tables on the other if somebody is coming the other way. Further back, there is precious little more room between the combined bar / kitchen servery and a few booths along the opposite wall. A couple of basic fold-up canteen tables can also be found out on the front pavement. Twelve craft taps can be found on the bar-back, offering a good range of 11 beers in different styles - from which selection I went for the Metroland Two Tribes (£5.00) - plus a cider.

Same offering as their other branches about 20 keg beer served in thirds for the stronger ones.Interior is a bit do it yourself with a lot of ply wood and booths for diners.Reasonable prices.