East London Brewing Co will open a 160-cover pub above its working brewery on Lockwood Way, Walthamstow, on Friday 27 November, the Waltham Forest Echo reports.
The pub, The Black Horse Tap, opens in the brewery's 15th year. It is part of the company's new 22,000 sq ft site, which opened in April and is the largest brewery site on the Blackhorse Beer Mile. Along with the working brewery, the site has a 1,500-capacity events space and a large yard, and already hosts club nights, day parties, family raves and festivals.
The warehouse was previously shared by the now-defunct Wild Card Brewery, a bakery and the barber shop Timmy Tapers. All three were asked to leave the site earlier this year.
Inside the pub
Owner Ronnie Finch says the pub has “everything you'd expect from a cosy local”, plus internal windows looking straight down onto the brewery. There is dining space for 80, and a long bar faced in bottle-green tiles runs the length of the room under a row of stained-glass pendants. There are long shared tables, a raised run of banquettes at the back, and a pool table and dartboard.
Doors open onto an 80-capacity terrace. A heated marquee in the yard below will serve food and drink through the winter. DJs will play neo-soul, jazz, funk and disco on Friday and Saturday nights.
On price, pints start at £4 on Thursdays, with regular £5 pint deals the rest of the week. A downstairs bottle shop sells cans, bottles and merchandise to take away.
The kitchen opens with a residency until the end of the year from Play With Fire, the charcoal-led outfit from chef Matt Purkis. The menu runs from bar snacks such as brisket sausage rolls and Basque-style black pudding, through skewers cooked over the coals, to family-style sharing plates, including his Alabama chicken, smoked for four hours. Sunday roasts are served every week.
“We've been brewing in East London for 15 years and The Black Horse Tap is the pub we'd want in any neighbourhood: a great drinks list that goes beyond beer, a friendly welcome and a place where everyone knows each other,” said Mr Finch.
“The Beer Mile has become a genuine destination for East London, a collective of independent breweries that back each other. We're investing in it for the long term, and not just with a pub: the whole site is there to bring independent brewing to a wider audience.”
Opening details
The Black Horse Tap opens on Friday 27 November with a free launch party from 7pm to 2am, with DJ Juliette Cromwell.
Opening hours will be Thursday and Friday 5pm–11pm, Saturday 12pm–11pm, and Sunday 12pm–8pm.
