Five Points Brewing Taproom, London Fields, E8

Situated on Mare Street roughly halfway between Cambridge Heath and London Fields Overground stations, the brewery looks like an office block from the road, apart from the large signage stating that it is the Five Points Brewing Co. Signage at the rear is even more visible from the railway line. You enter into an indoor bar area with a selection of the brewery's beers, mostly keg or "tank" as they refer to them. Cask ales on were XPA & Best Bitter. Tank beers were Pale, Jupa, XPA & At Wits End, with guests being Northern Monk Faith & Eternal & Hammerton A Passion For Pepo. I opted for the latter, which was a passion fruit sour. If you take a stroll through the brewery itself, you find yourself in an outdoor seating area, some of it covered. There are a couple more bars out here. Although the range seemed to be more limited. There are also a couple of food serveries. We sat a bit too close to them and found the many waiting staff to be a bit too efficient. All of them came to our table at one time or another to ask if we would like to order something to eat! A good version of a brewery taproom that seeks to cater for a typical Hackney crowd. I'll probably return someday.

This brewery tap has finally unveiled a proper indoors bar, having been operating out of its goods yard since it first opened. A corner entrance leads you through a porch, with a staircase to one side leading up to a mezzanine seating area and the toilets. Staying on the ground floor, you pass through into quite a large rectangular room with a concrete screed floor, a two tone wall colour scheme and several windows along the front wall. The brewery is visible to the right as you enter and the smell of brewing was very apparent when I opened the front door. A long hard backed bench runs down the front wall beneath the windows, serving a series of tables with basic chairs in support. There’s a single row of high tables, all pushed together, through the centre of the room and then some small tables and chairs to the rear plus a drinking ledge with high stools looking through a window to the brewery. The decor is pretty minimal, with a few stylised signs, some horizontal poles under the ceiling with climbing plants strung over them, and a large TV on the back wall, which was turned off in favour of pop tunes that were easily drowned out by a good post-work crowd. The bar is at the far end of the room and has a basic counter behind which are six large beer tanks above a long row of keg taps, with a couple of handpulls at the far end of the counter and a beer board to one side. Four of the six tanks were pouring Five Points Pale, Lager, Joanne and XPA, whilst two more were available on cask - Best and Homage IPA (£5.00). I’d never heard of the Homage IPA before, so I tried a pint which turned out to be a little tired and not in the same league as the core beers in this brewery’s range. There were also five keg taps pouring Five Points products, including a cider, and three more from guest breweries such as The Kernel and Yonder Brew. I never managed to visit the original incarnation of this place, but I can only assume this is a massive improvement that should prove to be a good investment for the brewery. It’s nice to see some cask options in a modern craft brewery tap like this, but I was a little let down by the quality on this occasion, which was very disappointing. I’d definitely give this place a second chance though, as they brew good beer and have created a decent space in which to enjoy it.

Official site of Five Points Brewing Taproom - fivepointsbrewing.co.uk

Official site of Five Points Brewing Taproom - fivepointsbrewing.co.uk