Bianca Road Brew Co Taproom, Bermondsey, SE16

One of the second generation breweries along the Bermondsey Beer Mile, this is yet another identikit railway arch operation that fails to dazzle alongside some of its better known contemporaries. Inside, there’s nothing new to be found - concrete floor, corrugated metal clad walls, high vaulted ceiling and the brewing plant visible through an opening into the adjacent arch. Tables of varying sizes are available through the taproom, all accompanied by some sturdy benches, whilst the servery occupies much of the right-hand side of the room. The bar has a basic timber fronted counter with the brewery’s name stencilled across it, whilst a scaffold-style bar back has beer boards and a large brewery sign hung from it. There’s also a light box at the end of the bar with the brewery logo on it, which I would imagine looks pretty good when it’s lit up. The walls have been decorated with a mix of brightly coloured artworks, including a large mural to the rear, and various bicycle wheels, which are hung here and there down the left-hand wall for no obvious reason. Large front windows would normally allow plenty of light in, but they’ve been significantly blocked by a huge Tv screen which was showing episodes of Friends with the sound on, seemingly for the benefit of the barman, as no-one else seemed interested. There are seven keg taps on the bar back, six of which were in operation, dispensing Bianca Road beers across a good mix of styles and strengths. After a quick chat with the friendly, if somewhat hungover, barman, I settled on a pint of the Mirror Mirror Session Ale, which sadly turned out to be rather lacking in the taste department, marking the brewery out as a bit of an ‘also ran’ in relation to its peers along the beer mile. One of the beer mile’s problems has been the rapid influx of brewers and craft beer bars in the wake of its initial success. This has seen a slew of average to middling enterprises open up, selling substandard beer at inflated prices and getting away with it by virtue of the fact that they’re listed as a possible port of call for crawlers. This place definitely falls into this category, with its flavourless beer and unimaginative archway, so I’d recommend skipping this place and focusing instead on some of the more established names located nearby.

One of the bigger and better organised taprooms on this part of the Beer Mile, with two adjacent arches in use and some space for a few benches out on the pavement. Only table service due to coronavirus restrictions, but the indoor seating around the side servery helps give a more conventional bar environment. I found eight beers available: Long Play IPA, Saturday Session (£5.00), Lager, APA, Red Rye IPA, Black IPA, Salt Lake Shake and Hard Soda.

One of many similar establishments forming part of the famous Bermondsey Beer Mile, like many of the others this is located in the arches under the railway track, and is of course a brewery tap rather than a pub, and this is reflected in the somewhat industrial style décor, if one could go so far as calling it that. The flooring was some type of concrete screed, whilst the usual white corrugated iron of these establishments was cladding the ceiling and walls in order to channel the continually dripping water from the tunnel roof away from the punters underneath. That said, they had made a bit of an effort to soften it a little with a couple of strings of lights strung across the front and a limited amount of artwork on the walls, as well as some foliage and pot plants. Although the rear of the pub contained a couple of brewing vessels and so on, somehow here it managed to feel more like an interesting feature instead of being sat in the middle of a factory. There was also various cycling paraphernalia dotted about, including chains, wheels and caps. An arch through to another adjacent tunnel to the left was adorned with fairly lights and led in to more of a storage area, although there was also some additional seating here. A decent mix of background music was playing. Beers on tap appeared to be keg rather than cask, and on our visit included Longplay IPA, Hay-Z Pale, Black IPA, Salt Lake Shake, Tropical IPA and an American Pale Ale. Ciders meanwhile were both from the local Hawkes with their Mixed Berry and Apple. I opted for the Salt Lake Shake though which was described as a Cinnamon & Ginger Milkshake, and whilst quite unusual I found it pleasant enough. Overall I quite liked this one, having a slightly less industrial feel than some of it’s nearby competitors.

Official site of Bianca Road Brewery & Taproom - biancaroad.com