It’s sometimes easy to forget that there’s more to eating and drinking in Bermondsey than Bermondsey Street. But new joints are beginning to pop up elsewhere, such as this tiny Tower Bridge Road spot from the people behind The Bermondsey Arts Club & Cocktail Bar. This time, it serves craft beer and calls itself The Other Room.
It’s just a short walk from The Bermondsey Beer Mile, home to some of London’s finest breweries and The Other Room certainly makes the most of it. Three of the bar’s six taps are reserved for nearby Fourpure, and we were told one of those will always spurt that brand’s deeply flavoursome pilsner – recommended if you’re after something refreshing and dangerously drinkable.
The other three taps rotate with beers from the likes of Anspach & Hobday and Brew by Numbers – both local and both fantastic – and one of those is a nitro tap. The lovely staff will happily spend ten minutes explaining what the hell that is, but all you really need to know is that it makes the booze come out smooth and creamy. Otherwise, there are jazzy bottles and cans, plus a short snack list of tacos, nachos and so on.
Interiors are simple and unfussy: plywood booths, cosy lighting. The effect is all extremely inviting. I guess we’d all better start learning the names of a few more Bermondsey backroads.