Hackney Tap, Hackney, E8

Set in the old town hall this new pub looks quite striking from the outside, inside the single ,quite large room comws across as a little austere, the bar is set against the rear wall, with wooden benches and tables set around two of the remaining three walls, the rest of the seating was made up of high chairs and tables. Ordering is annoyingly as previously mentioned before by accessing an app via a QR code, and even more annoyingly once having navigated that, upon reacging the checkout stage you are prompted to log in or register to complete the transaction as well as proving you're not a robot, after three atempts and failing to complete this task one of the two girls serving came over and said I can take your order if you like! I can't help thinking It would have been so simple to do this old style transaction in the first place. Just two cask beers were on,Howard Town Monks Gold and Redemption Pale Ale, when I finaly got my hands on a pint of the later I found it to be in good shape at the reasonable London price of £4.20. The other two handpumps were occupied by a couple of real Ciders, there was a much more extensive range of craft keg options available. It would seem this is a work in progress and there is a bit to do I would say, maybe when covid regs have gone it will bed in nicely, until then it gets a 6/10 from me.

Facebook page of Hackney Tap - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Hackney Tap - www.facebook.com

Located slap bang in the middle of Hackney next to the parish church, I believe the Hackney Tap has only opened this week and is a sister pub to the Euston Tap. Indoors is larger than the Euston Tap and all smells very new. Finding a free toilet is however a bit of a chore. For now, seating is on a large plaza outside. A non-communicative bouncer was present. But we were soon shown to a table, albeit with a time limit. This was fine for us, as we still had other places to visit. Ales and craft beers were listed on a blackboard. The 4 real ales were JW Lees MPA & Bitter, Bristol Beer Factory White Desert & Redemption Trinity. The craft beer list was a little more extensive. Once again, ordering was via a QR code, which one of our group managed to master. Although we did end up with two halves of one beer, as it seemed impossible to order a pint - the price of progress! It doesn't quite have the appeal of the Euston Tap at present, but I think this will become a useful port of call in the area once indoor drinking is permitted again.

Official site of Hackney Tap - hackneytap.com