The Sun Tavern (Bar)

Top 10 things to know about The Sun Tavern:

1) “Cool” – the concept is fleeting and elusive, and if you have to ask what it is (or indeed discuss it in verbose bar reviews) then you don’t have it. The Sun Tavern, East London’s newly-refurbished beer mecca, undoubtedly has it. And then some.

2) For a start, it’s in Bethnal Green which, for better or for worse, is the coolest part of town (or so my trendier friends inform me – everyone might have dropped it and moved on by the time this is published).

3) Despite its prominent high-street location, the place seems shrouded in secrecy, as if indifferent to whether you drop in or even notice it in passing.

4) The shuttered windows and dark exterior leave a lot to the imagination, while indoors, the lighting is dim and fixtures are limited to a few rough wooden tables and chairs. No frills, all attitude.

5) A young, trendy, multicultural East London crowd packs out the Sun Tavern on most evenings, despite its relative infancy; everyone, including the staff, looks like they’ve just come straight from an underwear modelling shoot on Brick Lane.

6) The playlist is a model of restrained sophistication and taste, no doubt painstakingly chosen from the venue’s stacks of vintage vinyl (of course); at weekends, resident DJs ply their venerable trade behind the decks.

7) Behind the venue’s chrome bar, several beer taps jut out from a wall-mounted contraption that looks eerily like a urinal; an ever-changing roster of London beers, ales and IPAs spring forth, sourced from “Local Heroes” such as London Fields and Hackney Ale.

8) You’ve got to hand it to the Tavern – stocking a beer with a name as uncool as Beavertown Smog Rocket (to pick one particularly ludicrous example), safe in the knowledge that you’ll buy it anyway, is pretty damn cool in my book.

9) Meanwhile, cocktails are served in silver tankards and named after French pirates (the rum-and-prosecco-derived Jacques de Sores, since you ask – highly recommended). That’s just what cool bars do.

10) But for all its cultured ennui, the Sun Tavern is not one of your too-cool-for-school, stand-offish venues: it is simply a great place to go and sample an offbeat selection of brews in East London. Maybe think twice about going in that double denim outfit though....read more