BrewDog Seven Dials, WC2

A quite large BrewDog Bar but true their style and branding, there was plenty of beers to choose from, their own and a good number of guests, backed up by a decent can selection from the fridge, I splashed out on two thirds of Brew By Numbers Chocolate Orange Stout possibly beer of a day, a pretty good outlet.

Official site of BrewDog Seven Dials - www.brewdog.com

Official site of BrewDog Seven Dials - www.brewdog.com

I came here once before in 1988 with two mates, one of whom was so drunk that we were denied entry. A second attempt yesterday into what is now a BrewDog. This was once a minor gin palace, but now is typical of the breed, with industrial interior as dark and Gothic as the barmaid who served me. The place was certainly full, but most of the customers queuing up seemed to be foreign tourists, totally baffled by the experience and ordering system, with the ‘beer board’ providing much of the light; some walked out through utter confusion. I went for a half of Dead Pony, ordered through sturdy Perspex screens, which mad ordering like paying in a cheque at a bank; it was cold and fizzy; I didn’t finish it. Curiosity satisfied after 33 years, I shan’t be returning as I’m more of a pub traditionalist and fan of real ale.

This may well be the largest Brewdog bar yet, sprawling through a series of inter-connected spaces across three levels in the former Marquis of Granby pub on one corner of Cambridge Circus. The ground floor is a particularly rambling space, with the bar located in a room over to the left and a rather formal seating area hidden away to the right, past a staircase and round a couple of corners. The main bar area sees a long, angular bar counter along the rear wall with the usual cinema boards above listing the food options as well as the full drinks selection. A row of raised banquette booths opposite look out to the busy junction outside, offering some great people watching opportunities, as well as some of the most pubby feeling seats in the house. Following the passage round to the right hand room, you pass a couple of fridges offering beers to drink in or takeaway (albeit with a £2 surcharge if you want to drink them in the pub!), and into the rather dark, dingy feeling seating area where padded benches and hard chairs have been arranged under Brewdog’s characteristic neon signs, creating an odd feeling room which we didn’t linger in. Stairs lead up to a second bar in a rather characterful first floor room. The smaller servery can be found to the rear, with lots of banquette and chair seating filling the rest of the room nicely. There is an attractive moulded ceiling with a pleasant floral motif, a bashed about old fireplace, tongue and groove wall panelling and more neon signs to distract the eye up here and the staircase leading up here was decorated with a striking mural artwork. Further seating is available in a basement room, which I didn’t get around to exploring on this visit. Dance music played quietly during our afternoon visit and there was a decent sized crowd in, making it tricky to find a free table. I noted eleven Brewdog beers available on draught alongside eight guests from the usual small batch producers. A friendly barmaid served me a reasonably interesting pint of the Hoprocker and was helpful in exchanging a dirty glass which one of us had been presented with. As usual, the beers don’t come cheap and the classic Brewdog maths challenge of trying to work out the true value of your pint, half pint, third of a pint or whatever, is alive and well here. With this pub sat just a short distance from Covent Garden, there’s a sense that this is Brewdog’s flagship London branch and I have to say it’s overall a pretty decent effort, benefiting from being a former pub and retaining a few spaces that very much feel like proper pub rooms. I’m sure this will still be a big turn-off for Brewdog’s many detractors, but if you’re not a fan of their more utilitarian bars, you might at least find something a little more redeeming about this place.

I have very vague recollections of this place when it was the Marquis of Granby but nothing memorable and never visited when it was the Ape and Bird. But seeing it has now been taken over by Brew Dog decided to pay it a visit en-route to the nearby Craft beer Co as was impressed for a Brew Dog Bar. It has the usual Brew Dog Bar traits of Cinema Style Drinks display boards, assorted neon Brew Dog branding and exposed air conditioning and metalwork but isn’t quite as industrial as some of the original bars and being spread over three floors some of it feels more like a standard pub / bar. The ground level space you enter into from the street is the usual Brew Dog format with large Cinema style display behind the front main bar and then assorted seating stretching beyond. Being a Friday evening this section was heaving as was the queue for the bar, but fortunately I spotted the arrow advertising more beer upstairs and scaled the staircase to find a smaller room with its own bar with the same 16 taps with 10 Brewdog and 6 guests craft brews (Pressure Drop and other London offerings) as on the ground floor but no queue, and despite there being only one barman working this section I walked straight up and got served their Black IPA. Then, as well as these spaces there is an additional room in the basement which you find when needing the toilets which didn’t have its own bar but seemed to have BrewDog staff taking food orders from this tabled area. All in all, I liked this one, as also the hordes of tourists and Millennials it was attracting seemed to on this early Friday evening. So definitely a better incarnation for this West London drinking establishment than the previous two guises..

Another good Brewdog bar following the usual industrial make over.Good but smaller selection of Brewdog beers than most.Very busy and the tourists seem to like it.

Now another part of the steadily-growing BrewDog empire this has the usual cinema-style drinks list behind the bar, red neon signs and overloud muzak. A pint of Wiper & True's Kaleidoscope set me back £5.60.