Brewery Market, Twickenham

This is a small craft beer bar and shop, well positioned on a pleasant pedestrianised street with several other pubs close by. A couple of steps take you down into a compact room with scuffed floorboards and plain white walls. An unusual L-shaped drinking shelf runs around the rear right corner, formed out of old kitchen cabinets, with a row of high stools allowing you to perch here and peruse the collection of books and board games that are stacked up here, but more practical seating options such as canteen style benches, a high table and stools and a low pallet ‘table’ with low stools, can be found through the centre of the room. The left-hand wall is dominated by beer fridges full of take-out options, although you’re also welcome to enjoy them on site. The servery is along the rear wall, over to the left, and has a plain counter and cheap wooden bar back with the taps mounted beneath beer boards and a hop lined section of ceiling. The room has been liberally plastered with old beer bottle and can labels – they’re literally everywhere and add some welcome vibrant colour to an otherwise plain room. There’s also a lot of merch on display, ranging from T-shirts to glassware, bar snacks and water bottles. An old blues soundtrack played quietly in the background, which seemed fitting given Twickenham’s association with the genre, and the pub made it’s dog-friendly credentials very clear by allowing one pooch to sit proudly atop a table. There are also a few tables out on the cobbled street, which would probably be quite nice to bag on a warm day, when punters from other nearby cafes and pubs spill outside to create a nice ambiance along the street. This place only focusses on craft keg beer, so there’s no cask option, but the keg range seemed pretty varied across the eight available lines, with styles such as Gose, Imperial Stout and Hefeweizen represented, whilst a ninth tap was pouring a cider alternative. I tried the Newbarns Innkeepers, which was £3.90 for two-thirds of a pint and seemed like a pretty good example of a 21st Century best bitter. There were only a few other customers in, but it’s a small room, so started to feel a little crowded pretty quickly. I liked some aspects of this place, especially their carefully selected beer range, which I thought was notably different to a lot of craft beer bars who just put a load of pale ales on and hope for the best. This seemed like the pub’s main selling point, but the awkward and limited seating options and lack of cask ale meant I left wondering how likely I would actually be to return – worth a look for something a bit different I would say. Oh, and for God’s sake, please get that dog off the table…

One room square bar/bottleshop. About 7 keg taps and lots of tins and bottles in the fridges.Very reasonably priced for some great beers.Friendly helpful staff.Thirds available on the keg beers.I hope its a success.

Official site of Brewery Market - brewerymarket.co.uk

Official site of Brewery Market - brewerymarket.co.uk