London Pub Tour 30 - Brixton: Prince of Wales, SW9, Beehive and Craft Beer Co.

I was down in Brixton to pick up some beer that I had brewed at London Beer Labs. I'll be putting a two part post up on the brew session and the outcome of the beers soon. Whilst down in Brixton and awaiting the London Beer lab location to open I used it as an opportunity to knock off some of the pubs in the area. My first stop was the Prince of Wales (SW9 8HH) or as it seems to now be stylised, POW. The pub is just a short walk away from the train and tube station and just off the high street. The outside is brown with some big windows and not much else to it. Upon entering the pub you will see the bar off to your front and right. The bar stretches from the window across to the far side of the pub, but the area against the window is for a coffee machine and glass collection. The bar actual has metal front and edge which I guess is more durable.

The pub offered up three hand pumps which served Doombar, Tribute and Brixton Effra. It was nice to see at least a local ale on offering. The lagers though were more standard with the except of VPA by Portobello. There were some Brixton bottle beers plus a range of ciders. I in the ended just wanted a plain simple lager after the day I had, so opted for the Budweiser which cost £4.60 for the pint and matched my need and mood.

The pub is quite open with only a few tables on the lower level, and lots of space around the bar. On the raised area is where the majority of the seating and the booths are contained. The pub has other levels but I believe these are for the club levels. Food is served at the pub and there was also a DJ setting up for later, but in the meantime there was some loud music blaring out.. The crowd in the bar was young but it wasn't too busy at this time of the day. On the ceiling there were some fans and just above the bar angled mirrors. The tables themselves are old (maybe reclaimed) and just had dark wood stain put on top which is now chipping off.

After finishing up my lager I made my way closer to the Beer Labs and stopped at SW9 Bar (SW9 8EG). It is difficult at times to determine whether a venue listed as a bar is pub-like or more restaurant, Particularly now with lots of gastro pubs and rural pubs mainly focused on food, the line has become more blurred. In my interpretations the SW9 Bar falls under the 'pub' category, hence why I'm including it in my Pub Tour outings. The bar is just off the main road across from the station, and down a pedestrian footpath. They serve only keg beers which included Hoegaarden, Stella, Guinness, Becks Vier and Leffe. There was a good bottle selection which included local beers from breweries such as Brixton and London Beer Labs.

I got a pint of Hoegaarden for £4.90 and moved over to one of the tables by the footpath window, and near the front door. Outside storm Doris was working away and nobody was using the outside seats. Inside there were only 10 people in the bar. Pop music was playing quietly in the background and the conversation levels were low. The seating on the tables had slight reclines which made them very comfy to sit slightly back in and relax, though I there were some seats that were more like deck chairs on their lowest seating and were perhaps too low for the tables they were placed against. The bar was quite dark and had element light bulbs hanging from the ceiling to add to the effect. The bar was quite relaxing and considering I only had to walk across the road to the Beer Lab it meant I could take my time with the pint.

Once ready I picked up my box of beers and then headed back towards the station. As the weather was still bad and I was going to have to carry these beers all the way home with me on the tube, I thought I needed a slight beer top up, so headed to the Craft Beer Co. (SW9 8PA). This is quite a small Craft Beer Co venue on a market street opposite the railway track. The design of the pub (both outside and in) is minimalist and industrial. The main feature is the bar in the left hand corner which had 10 hand pumps (With a focus on Oakham Ales) and I believe 20 keg beers. The ales were situated on the bar top whilst the keg beers on the large cooper pipe unit which arches over the bar. Being Craft Beer Co. there was inevitably such a large selection of bottle beers from all over the UK and World, it's impossible to name them.

There were a few tables in the pub but all were taken so I was left to stand in the corner at the bar, ensuring I didn't block anybody. The pub wasn't busy, around 15 people, but enough to take all the tables. I had two beers whilst at the pub, the first was New World Order and the second Bishops Farewell, both by Oakham's. Both seemed to be Golden Ales with the New World Order being slightly more malty in taste, but both in good form.

I was still in the mood for another beer so made the decision to visit the Spoons just around the corner, The Beehive (SW9 7DG). The Spoons was quite grotty outside and there was only one door in. Once inside you realised that this must be an early spoons due to the width of the pub. The pub is long but not wide at all, and add to this that it become less wide at the bar area and there are large supporting columns throughout, you can see that it's not quite the usual Spoons open plan pub. There were 9 hand pumps offering Pride, Hobgoblin, Ruddle and Buffalo. Shockingly I couldn't believe that Pride was being sold for £2.65, considering Fuller's consider that their Premium Ale...
As usual Spoons had a varied bottle selection and the tap selection included Strongbow Black, Magners, John Smith, 1664, Carlsbery, San Miguel, Fosters, Devils Backbone, Sambrooks IPS, Shipyard, Coors and Guinness.

I selected a pint of Buffalo by Dorking Brewery which was very smokey in taste and not what I was expecting, but enjoyable nonetheless. There was no seating room and barely any standing room due to pub layout, so I was standing in the area area where a column stopped bar service. A gentleman came in and ordered half a Guinness and was surprised at how cheap it was, so I assume he either does that everyday or its his first time in a Spoons. After uncomfortably finishing off my pint, I finally decided to call it time and head back with my rattling box of bottle beers.