Brixton House, Brixton, SW9

Nothing to add to PSM’s description of the venue. The venue was busy on my visit as there is an exhibition in the venue of what a typical Windrush House would have looked like. The tables were largely occupied by people using the venue as a workspace (it is a community space predominately). Beers were also as per PSM visit with Guinness also available plus a range of beers in the fridge in cans and bottles. Hard to rate the venue highly as a bar / pub but definitely worse places to have a beer and kill some time.

Set in the ground floor space of Brixton's impressive cultural hub, this is a modern bar that is open to the general public. You enter to find a reception desk directly opposite you, with the bar area over to the left. The room has concrete screed flooring, floor to ceiling windows along the front wall and plenty of exposed utilities across the ceiling. The bar has quite a nice modern counter with curved ends and a stone top, whilst the bar back is composed of various mirrors and blackboards over an exposed brick wall. A long row of tables and padded chairs run beneath the front windows and seem to be the only seating options, although to the right of the reception there is a small lounge lobby type space, with more of the same plus a few comfy chairs, but it's unclear if you can take your drinks over there. Some graffiti style art decorates the back wall, a couple of large potted plants add some colour and two electronic boards promoting upcoming events offer a bit of visual distraction, but otherwise it's all a little bland and functional, yet somehow has a decent vibe thanks to a diverse crowd and its inclusive feeling environment. There's notably no background music, TV screens or other such intrusions, and a few folk were seemingly working from here on their laptops. No surprise to find no cask ale on the bar, but they did have two Brixton Brewery beers and three lagers, including Red Stripe, on keg. I tried the Brixton Reliance Pale Ale at £6.00 a pint, which I find is a reliable brew in such caskless situations. The barman was quite friendly and staff were very quick to clean up a smashed glass that had dropped off a tray. This isn't really a pub as such, feeling more like a modern theatre bar or perhaps a cafe bar at a stretch, but I still thought it was a reasonable spot to while away a bit of time. There are better craft beer options in Brixton Village over the road, and Brixton beers can be enjoyed from the actual brewery, about a five minute walk away, but if you need a quick pint before or during an event here, I thought it did the job pretty well. Date of visit - 29th January 2024

Official site of Brixton House - brixtonhouse.co.uk

Official site of Brixton House - brixtonhouse.co.uk