The folks behind Coin Laundry on Exmouth Market are responsible for this dapper beer and pizza venture and it’s good to see that they’ve brought their trademark playfulness to the sprawling space. There’s a games room downstairs, a pool table on the main level that offers respite from the nine-to-five, along with all manner of fancy craft beers, cocktails and slick wood-fired pizzas. They even do flowers, too.
Beer connoisseurs will be chuffed with the 12 brews on tap from hometown locals Beavertown Brewery and Fourpure, plus two guest beers on rotation. If you want to get one of those refreshing badboys to go, you can get it in a takeaway three-pint growler for six quid. There’s also a good pick of cocktails for less than a tenner, like a punchy bramble with gin, lemon and blackberry liquor. There’s more gin in the wicked G&Ts, which have their own dedicated section on the menu and come in nine varieties at £9.50 a pop.
In spite of being in a sleepy corner of works-in-progress Paddington Basin, Heist feels like a trendy Shoreditch spot. The space is cool and inviting, all industrial interiors and eye-catching art. It’s also strong on the important stuff: solid booze, sweet staff, a decently priced menu. Now all it needs is more people. It was pretty much a ghost town mid-week, but assuming it gets going on Friday and Saturday evenings, Heist has the makings of a destination venue, for a proper good night out on the Westside. Tell a friend.