BrewDog Waterloo, Waterloo, SE1

This is an absolutely huge branch of the popular Brewdog chain of bars, perhaps even larger than their Tower Hill premises. I found the place pretty overwhelming and difficult to take in on a single visit. The ground floor has a massive footprint and provides ample seating across a number of notionally separate areas, with the servery appearing midway along the right-hand wall. It’s your normal industrial-style bar area, with the obligatory cinema-style beer board up on the bar back. Elsewhere, I spotted some brewing kit that seemed to be actively used, an island servery which seemingly didn’t serve beer – not sure what it was being used for exactly – loads of partitioning in just about every form imaginable, plus ample seating including comfy banquettes, some of which have been fitted into booths, and loads of dining and high tables with chairs and high stools in support. Perhaps the most remarkable feature is the series of bowling lanes to the rear of the room – not full-size bowling lanes to be fair, but a remarkable sight in this day in age. Big screens were showing a live rugby match and a staircase near the entrance takes you up to a mezzanine space with loads more seating and, perhaps most bizarrely, a spiral slide, via which you can descend back down to the main bar level. I counted thirteen Brewdog beers, seven guests, two ciders and two alcohol-free beers on the massive beer board. From this, I decided to try a pint of Brewdog Ace of Spades, which came in at a whopping £7.20 – in fact, a quick look through the full range showed that you’d be doing very well to get a pint of anything alcoholic for under the £7 mark. That doesn’t seem to have put off the punters though, as the place was rammed, with noisy children everywhere and barely a free seat in the house. This is a pretty remarkable venture that ups the ante in terms of what a Brewdog bar can be and probably merits a visit just for that very reason. However, as with all of their London bars, the prices are so prohibitive, staying for more than a quick pint isn’t really an appealing option – I’m glad I came and experienced this place, but with the Waterloo Tap just down the road, I can’t imagine I’ll muster up too many repeat visits.

Vast pub with multiple areas to suit all drinkers apart from Camra cask drinkers.Thought it might be a bit quiet on a tues night but at least a thousand customers and finding a seat was difficult.Tried the slide from top floor to bottom but it wasnt very fast. Tried the West Coast ipa from the in house brewery which was decent.Loud and noisy but a thats to be expected .

A gargantuan venue over two floors underneath part of waterloo station, certainly more of a complex than anything resembling a bar or pub but popular all the same and there must have been two hundred plus people in the place, there was still plenty of room to spare. Richard below has described the various attractions (or not as the case maybe). Two large bars, one up, one down are in the usual BD format, I had a Simcoe IPA. Although I'm now tiring of the BrewDog brand , given its location I'm more than likely to return at some point.