BrewDog Soho, Soho, W1

This is a typical Brewdog - brightly lit and thumping music. As you would expect, furnishings are mainly tall tables and tall stools, but with a couple of booths on the left. There's no real ale of course, but illuminated screens advertised the vast array of keg beers on offer. I had a half of something called Twin Towns (£3.25 a half - payment by card only) which turned out to be an excellent dark beer. This is not the sort of place I would normally patronise, but as it was next door to the King's Arms I had just visited, I decided to give it a whirl. I'm glad that I did - although it was not a real ale, the Twin Towns was my beer of the day.

One room with the bar to the rear. Also a downstairs area which I didn't visit. Usual board above the bar giving details of the craft type beers on offer. As per usual, the beer was too cold.

Standard BrewDog outlet, with the semi-industrial furniture and decor typical of the chain. Limited frontage, but the rectangular main bar extends back some distance towards the rear counter, and there is another bar (with less seating) downstairs. I found 12 of their beers on offer (from which I selected what turned out to be a rather underwhelming Kingpin, £5.70) plus eight guests. "Beer Porn" as the neon sign says? Not really (especially there aren't even any dodgy pump clips to muse).

Usual raw industrial Brewdog interior with the bar at the rear. Does what it says on the tin.

It was fairly inevitable that Brewdog would at some point decide to expand their ever growing London estate into Soho, and so it has come to pass with the conversion of this former cocktail bar which has also served as a restaurant, pizzeria and a wine bar in recent years. Funnily enough, despite all of Brewdog's attempts to make the place over into one of their so-called 'punk' venues, it still feels very much like a converted restaurant and fails to pack much of a punch in terms of initial impressions. The main room has a parquet floor and runs a fair way to the rear where the servery can be found underneath the trademark cinema-style beer board. The bar has a simple counter and a white tile bar back where all of the taps can be found - none of the usual unlabelled Brewdog keg fonts on the bar this time. Walls are a mix of ugly bare concrete and nicer exposed brickwork and have been decorated with some murals, lots of irritating neon signs saying things like 'Hop XXX' and a selection of not-very-punk Brewdog branded merchandise. Banquette and high stool seating is available under the front windows and through the centre of the room, whilst closer to the bar there are some padded bench booths, some of which have been partitioned off with wire fencing, more of which can be found covering parts of the ceiling. Low level lighting helps to mask some of the worst elements of the interior design, provided in part by broken plaster light shades over the bar counter that look like they're liable to fall into your beer any second. A stack of board games was spotted next to the bar and although music was playing, it was getting lost under the babble of a good week night crowd. Stairs lead down to a basement bar (follow another neon sign: 'More Beer Down Here') which has its own servery to the right and very similar decor, the main differences being the modern floorboards and the comparative lack of seating in favour of standing room. (Sample basement bar neon sign: 'Beer Porn'). There were plenty of Brewdog beers to choose from - the full range on this visit comprised Dead Pony Club, Punk IPA, Jet Black Heart, Dortmunder Lager, Self Assembly Pope, Nanny State (0.5% abv, £3.85 a pint), 5am Saint, Vagabond Pale Ale and Born to Die Prototype (9.8% abv, £5.70 a half). The big news is that cask beer (of a sort) has returned in the shape of Live Dead Pony Club, which I'm told undergoes a secondary fermentation in a key keg. It wasn't enough to tempt me away from the Punk IPA (£5.80), which was very nice but insanely overpriced. Ten guest kegs rounded out the draught selection and included brews from ToOl, Beavertown and Redchurch among others. I've been warming to Brewdog venues in recent years and have had a number of enjoyable, if rather brief, visits to their venues up and down the country, However, I didn't really feel much for this place, which seemed to be a step back from the comfier, customer-focused bars I've enjoyed of late. I found this bar difficult to generate much enthusiasm for, perhaps the Central London location doesn't help, but having said that, it's a 'must visit' place for anyone looking for cutting edge craft beer and a bonus to see cask cautiously reintroduced.

Official site of BrewDog - www.brewdog.com

Official site of BrewDog - www.brewdog.com