London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
East London: Hackney
Off Broadway, London E8
Bar (Independent)
63 Broadway Market E8 4PH
T (020) 7241 2786 W offbroadway.org.uk f baroffbroadway
Open 1600 (1000 Sat-Sun)-2400.
Cask beers None, Other beers 2 keg, 20+ bottles (mainly US and UK), Also Cocktails, specialist spirits, 13 wines
Food Mexican fast food, Outdoors Tables on street, Wifi.
Thu open mic, Fri (& occasional other nights) live music or comedy, vintage clothing market, art exhibitions, table football, board games.
Although actually on Broadway Market, arguably Hackney’s liveliest (and trendiest) street, this little neighbourhood cocktail bar (yes, it’s the sort of place where they have neighbourhood cocktail bars) is a long way off the Broadway in New York City, proclaiming itself as “an East Village bar that got lost and ended up in East London.” It might be lost but it’s certainly found plenty of customers, thanks to an atmosphere generated by low key lighting, authentic lived-in clutter and hip but friendly and efficient staff, a good value menu of authentic Tex-Mex favourites (nachos, quesadillas, burritos, tamales), and an impressive drinks list that, if cocktails are your thing, will get you all the shaking and straining theatrics of swanky West End places but at considerably cheaper prices.
More likely to attract readers of this page is the complementary range of craft beers. The only draught choices are keg Brooklyn Lager and MillerCoors wheat beer Blue Moon, but there’s plenty of interest in the bottle fridges, with local brews from Kernel and nearby Redchurch and other English brewers like Dark Star holding their own alongside imports from Brooklyn, Flying Dog, Goose Island, Great Divide and the excellent Bear Republic from California, little seen in the UK. Australia and Mexico also get a look-in. The basement hosts comedy and music nights, and there are fish tanks in unlikely places.
For more on Broadway Market see the entry in the main guide for the Dove (p126). The Albion in Goldsmiths Row is also a short step away, though listed under Bethnal Green.
National Rail London Fields Overground Hackney Central, Shoreditch High Street Underground Bethnal Green Bus Broadway Market (236 Canonbury – Hackney, 394 Shoreditch – Hackney) Cycling LCN+ 8 9 16, Regents Canal towpath, links to CS1 Walking Jubilee Greenway, London Fields paths
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