Craft Beer Junction

Ten taps in a Bermondsey railway arch have poured 6,858 different beers across 34,187 logged check-ins, which works out at a new beer every fifth glass, and since summer 2024 some of them have been brewed on the mezzanine upstairs.

Why go

Marcin Clos imports and distributes beer for a living, and this arch is where his book gets poured (Des de Moor). That inverts how a beer bar usually works. Instead of buying what a wholesaler offers, the bar exists to show what the importer has landed, which is why the Bermondsey Beer Mile's own record found the list running entirely Tampa breweries in its first month, with the owner confirming that "each month, the beer list will have a different focus" (Bermondsey Beer Mile). In summer 2024 he stopped only importing. Des de Moor logs the addition: a 120 litre German-built Brewrocket automated kit and three spherical fermenters on the upstairs mezzanine, with the resulting beer sold in membrane keg and only over this bar. Imports pour in two-thirds measures to keep the money reasonable. There is no food and there is no cask.

Order this / avoid

• Order: whatever American keg landed most recently, in a two-thirds. Then something CBJ brewed upstairs, which does not exist anywhere else.
• Avoid: Monday and Tuesday, which are dark. Arriving hungry, since the kitchen has never existed. Looking for a handpump.

What locals & experts say

• Des de Moor, author of CAMRA's London's Best Beer, Pubs & Bars and a twice-winner of the British Guild of Beer Writers travel award, recording the kit: "In summer 2024 the bar became a brewpub with the addition of a small but high-tech 120 l German-built Brewrocket automated brewing kit and three spherical fermenters on the upstairs mezzanine." ref
• The Bermondsey Beer Mile, unbylined, from two visits seven months apart: "CBJ is primarily a beer importer and distributor, and with the heavy focus on imports most of the beers are selling in 2/3 measures to keep the prices acceptable. They've got ten taps, plus a decent selection of bottles and cans." ref
• CAMRA's South East London branch, surveyed 17 January 2026: "Specialises in brews from Europe and the US, along with some from the UK. Up to 10 beers available on tap plus a selection in can or bottle." The same page records cask ale as not available. ref
• No critic has reviewed it. Nothing reachable carries a published verdict on the beer, so this entry rests on the importer's model, the brewing kit and the check-in record, and that is stated rather than dressed up.

Good to know

• Where: Railway Arch 86, Enid Street SE16 3RA, on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, a couple of doors from Bianca Road and Mash Paddle. Bermondsey station is about 550 metres away.
• Days: shut Monday and Tuesday. Saturday is the long day, from midday. Every other day it opens in the late afternoon or evening. The three public listings disagree on the exact times, so check the venue's own channels before you commit.
• Food: none.
• Cask: none.
• Takeaway: cans and bottles alongside the taps, and CBJ's own beer in keg for the bar only.
• Hygiene: rating 5, inspected 26 September 2024, Southwark ref.
• Reachability note: craftbeerjunction.co.uk returned nothing to either fetch route on 1 August 2026, so everything above comes from third parties.

Jeff's take (his words)

Nothing from Jeff. The saved-places export carries this row with an empty Note column, so jeff_note stays empty.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

must-visit — For anyone who cares about beer, build the Saturday around this arch. Ten lines have poured 6,858 different beers through 34,187 logged check-ins, which is a new beer every fifth glass and roughly four times the churn rate of the big importer taprooms up the road. The reason is the business model: Marcin Clos is a beer importer first and a publican second, so the bar is the shop window for a book of rare American kegs that mostly do not reach London any other way, and the list changes country month to month rather than season to season. Then in summer 2024 he put a 120 litre German-built Brewrocket and three spherical fermenters on the mezzanine and started brewing, which is capital spent on craft by someone who could simply have bought more stock, and those beers pour nowhere else. Imports go in two-thirds measures so the prices stay sane. Weigh against it honestly: there is no food, no cask, no room to speak of beyond an arch and some outdoor seating, and it does not open at all on Monday or Tuesday. None of that touches what is in the glass, which is what carries the most weight. It holds the top rung on structural evidence and an award-winning beer author's record of the kit rather than on a critic's verdict, because no critic has written one, and confidence is set to medium for exactly that reason.