The Bridge Tap, SE1

Pub SignMan left this review about The Bridge Tap

This large, modern pub close to London Bridge station and Borough Market, occupies a former branch of the Slug & Lettuce chain and has a good-sized, single room interior with attractive polished parquet flooring, large windows around three sides with massive blinds partly drawn to balance out the lighting, and plain painted walls. Seating is nicely varied throughout, with high tables and stools dominating the back wall, benches through the centre and tables and chairs elsewhere, plus some banquette booths next to the bar. The servery is to the right and has an unusual multi-coloured counter with a smart top and a part bare brick, part timbered bar back. A mural detailing the brewing process has been stencilled across the top, although I’m not aware of this place being affiliated with any particular brewer, and some small beer tanks can also be found back here, as well as a neon sign declaring that “Craft Is King”. TV screens dominate the room, most of them showing live cricket on my visit, with some barely audible music playing somewhere in the background. Decor is otherwise quite limited, with a couple of display cabinets housing beer bottles and other such breweriana being about as exciting as it gets.
Four handpulls were dispensing three cask ales – Fullers London Pride, Sharps Solar Wave and Southwark Bankside Blonde – with the final pump unclipped. I was served by a comically rude barman who gave an enormous amount of good-natured grief to a poor punter who accidentally walked off with his pint before paying. Thankfully he was more forgiving to me and served up a reasonably good drop of the Bankside Blonde, which I enjoyed drinking whilst watching the cricket.
I thought this was a pretty good example of a modern, city centre bar that seems to have wide appeal if the good midweek crowd was anything to go by. It’s not really a challenger to some of the areas top alehouses and craft beer bars, but it definitely makes a nice alternative and I can only presume it’s a significant upgrade on the Slug & Lettuce that went before it.

Date of visit – 1st August 2023

On 28^th December 2023 - rating: 7
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