Brixton Brew Bar, Brixton, SW9

Small, container-based bar with what I take to be the former open-air seating area now under the cover of a large tent. Total of 12 craft keg taps, with all beers sourced locally (including the Brixton Reliance Pale Ale in a plastic 'glass', for a totally ridiculous £3.00 for a half). All very trendy, reasonably busy and rather cold, but anybody who comes here more than once must surely need their head examined...

Official site of Brixton Port Authority - brixtonportauthority.com

Official site of Brixton Port Authority - brixtonportauthority.com

This bar forms part of the super-trendy Pop Brixton development - a series of pop-up boutiques, restaurants and bars built into old shipping containers near Brixton Market. This particular bar acts as the craft beer outlet for the complex, and on my recent visit I found there were nine keg beers available, all from London based micros such as Brick, Orbit, Mondo and Brixton. There are also two hand pumps on the bar, but both of these were unclipped on my mid-week visit, so I'm not sure how often these can be relied upon to dispense cask ale. I decided to try a pint of the Gipsy Hill Southpaw, which led to a double disappointment as the beer was presented to me in a plastic glass at which point I was asked to pay £5.00. This is clearly a ridiculous price to be paying for a beer made just down the road and even more so when not served in proper glassware. It turned out to be a pretty good pint, but was of course very cold and notably carbonated, which impaired the flavour somewhat. A board on the side of the container noted that they also sell 'small batch spirits, proper gin and organic bubbles'. The review below suggests that it is/was possible to drink within the container, but this was not the case when I visited, as both entranceways had been blocked by moving the two stretches of bar counter so that they blocked both doorways. A quick look inside suggested there were a lot of kegs filing the container, so perhaps they had just taken delivery and had to temporarily block access? Either way, I was forced to take my drink into the main square near the entrance to the Pop Brixton complex. This is a decked, open air space with several long canteen-style benches which you share with people eating or drinking from other outlets. Music was playing quite loudly across the square, which was unavoidable, and there are some unisex toilets in the rear corner of the complex. The containers used for the bar are fairly unremarkable, with the pub's logo painted on the right hand end being the only notable feature. The bar was unattended when I arrived and I had to wait a short while until a very cheery barman showed up to serve me. This has the potential to be a decent place to enjoy a summer drink in the sun, but on a grey spring afternoon it didn't really work so well. The place is clearly aimed at the young, trendy crowd that have made Brixton their home in recent years and as such it may very well succeed. But for me it is lacking in comfort and far too expensive to merit repeat visits.