On the surface, The White Hart is a pleasant but unremarkable pub. It’s in a great spot between Whitechapel and Bethnal Green, and a couple of spindly chandeliers and hefty black and gold columns give the place a bit of swank. But otherwise it’s just a straightforward boozer with worn wooden tables and a couple of weathered leather sofas.
Look closer, though, and you’ll see that it’s got a trick up its sleeve in the shape of the One Mile End microbrewery, which sprang to life beneath the floorboards of the pub back in 2014. Though the brewery has since moved to a bigger site in Edmonton, it still supplies up to 14 different hoppy concoctions to the pub’s pumps and taps at any given time.
On keg you’ll find easygoing choices like the Salvation! Pale and Temperance Session Ale, alongside punchier numbers like the 5.7% ABV Snakecharmer IPA and the Ancho Cocoa Stout – ‘a luxurious stout with raw organic cocoa nibs and smoky, mild ancho chillies’. Hello!
The creativity doesn’t stop there. On cask you’ll find the Tinker’s Cuss Rye IPA, which uses Cambodian Kampot peppercorns, as well as a Docker’s Delight Bitter, Hospital Porter and Snakes Alive DIPA, which weighs in at a whopping 8% ABV. They’re all intriguing and, frankly, lovely – the biggest problem you’re going to face is sampling all of them before you lose the power of speech.
If you’re feeling hungry, the pub has a lengthy menu of dishes that may not rock your world but will soak up all that alcohol – think fish pie and homemade burgers, and small plates of fried whitebait and triple-cooked chips. But let’s be honest, the real reason you’re here is for the booze, and on this front The White Hart is truly remarkable.