Upminster TapRoom, Upminster

The pub was bustling when I got there just after 2pm on a Saturday, possibly more so than usual due to Six Nations Rugby featuring England being screened, a slight disappointment for me as for one I'm not a rugby fan plus in a small space you maybe can't get the real feel of a pub and it's regular clientele. However despite that the visit was reasonably enjoyable with I think seven Cask on priced at £4.90 across the board and a couple of key kegs along with a plethora of Ciders from Lillys, Seacider and several others. The beers were displayed individually on small boards with mounted pumpclips up on a wall behind one of the high tables, given the busy nature of the day it was hard to see them without blocking the view of the game, unless you were already familiar with the pumpclip. I went for a vocation Heart & Soul on key keg and it was a decent drop. My rating of 7 would probably be an 8 had I visited at a quieter time but it was worth the trip to the eastern outreaches of London.

A Tuesday night visit for the first time while here for football. 5 of us arrived just before 6pm and were quickly joined by another 2 of our party which helped to fill the place up nicely. 4 ales, 1 perry and a mead on when I first got in then it was increased to 6 ales. The several pints of Snow Drop’s Amber @ 4.2% that I had were excellent. This micro pub which has already in it’s short time of existence become a hub of the community with numbers growing almost weekly others table service as is the norm in micro pubs. It was pretty busy during our 90 minutes here, conversation is king but we a group of 7 of us nobody else got a look in ! A cracking little place that will be revisited in the not to distance future

This is East London's first micropub, albeit being situated on the extreme edge of the area. It is considerably larger than many of these places, in fact there is enough room to swing a cat in here if you're into that sort of thing. The building was once an office rather than the usual shop and has six tall tables with stools and benches along three walls. The cold room is fully visible through a large window. There is a growing collection of bric-a-brac adorning the walls including some framed unusual vinyl LPs from a former life of the owner who once had a record shop. This one doesn't break any of the micropub guidelines having no music, machines and just selling cask ale, cider, a few wines and soft drinks. Use of mobile phones is likely to result in a charity "fine". This one is large enough to support separate Ladies and Gents toilets. It only opened after a lengthy battle with the local council mainly due to the fact that a few jobsworth councillors apparently couldn't tell the difference between a night club and a micropub. Six beers were available on my visit, Dark Star Hophead, Maldon IPA, Kings & Captain Bob, Crouch Vale Yakima Gold and Earl Soham Sir Roger's Porter. The Dark Star is a permanent fixture. I went for the Hophead (£3.20) and the Porter (£3.40) both of which went down a treat. Upminster doesn't have many pubs let alone any worth visiting so this is a welcome addition to the area.

CAMRA WhatPub - whatpub.com

CAMRA WhatPub - whatpub.com

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