Long Arm Pub & Brewery (Bar)

Top 10 things to know about Long Arm:

1) Tick, tick, tick, boom, it’s 5pm! Computer off; coat on; Mr Bossman, eat my dust! Here, on the cusp of the City of London and Shoreditch all your wildest desires are catered for after work. Within this area you’ll find a rooftop bar; a bar for live music; a bar for throwing darts; a bar for playing ping pong; a bar for drinking cocktails; there’s even a bar for checking out naked ladies, if that’s what floats your boat. They’re all close by, USP aplenty, and Long Arm extends the reach of this pleasuredome by snuggling you into the cosy armpit of a beer tasting evening.

2) It’s lively for a Tuesday so just imagine what it’s like on a Thursday or Friday. Office workers throw off their shackles (suit jackets), and veer towards to the pool table for a game. Classic indie tunes from The Killers, The Smiths, The Jam and Doves add a sprinkling of rock and roll.

3) The modern Shoreditch interior includes high stools and wooden tables. From this vantage point you are the adventurous consumer, the boredom buster, the sagacious slurper on a thirsty quest, refusing to admit it’s home time. You are the archetypal listener, the flibbertigibbet, the professor of craic, and this is your kingdom of beer and banter.

4) It’s also (almost definitely) the only bar in Shoreditch to brews its own beer. The enormous brewing tanks right next to the bar mean that that liquid fun you find in third, half, pint or stein varieties begins and ends its life within this bar. It never leaves; trapped in a paradise betwixt Moorgate and Old Street.

5) Grab Richard if you see him. He’s the captain of this ship; a jolly chap with a genuine love and passion for brewing, whose keen sense of exploration means you’ll never order the same beer twice (if visiting more than once a month). He’ll convince a consummate wine drinker to order a pint of green tea, lotus and jasmine beer with ease.

6) Ask him for a quick tour. Read the writing on the walls. Leave clever.

7) Every beer you try is a limited edition. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So there’s probably no point telling you about the coffee, treacle, sweet chocolate milk stout; or the belter of a lager made like a pale ale; or the Session IPA, which is a girl-next-door type of beer (she’s easy going enough to take home and meet your mum).

8) Top tips to guide you through the beer ordering process: ignore the menu; draught beers are found on the chalk boards; ask questions; try before you buy; and third pints are the recommended size until you find a beer you love enough to graduate to pints.

9) The food options here do little for calorie counters but complement beer in all the right-wrong ways. The craving for deep fat fried, salty satisfaction manifests as hotdogs, burgers and onion rings. They probably have some greens somewhere out back, but nobody’s buying. The Shorehorn Cheese is filthy; a must!

10) Long Arm is one of the best bars in London for beer lovers; a fresh world that knows no limits. Praise beer!...read more