The Pembury Tavern

The Pembury Tavern sits on the five way junction where Amhurst Road, Dalston Lane, and Pembury Road meet, a pub that has stood on the corner since 1856. The Five Points Brewing Company bought it and relaunched it in autumn 2018 after a careful restoration, and it now runs as the brewery's home pub in Hackney.

That ownership is the whole story. You get several lines of well kept Five Points beer across cask and keg, alongside guest brewers on regular tap takeovers. The kitchen is handed to ACE Pizza, whose New York inspired Neapolitan slices have been a fixture here since the reopening.

This is a beer-first pub that happens to do excellent pizza, not the other way around. For where it sits among the city's beer rooms, see our guide for beer geeks and the London craft beer bar guide.

The restoration kept the bones of a proper Victorian corner pub. Light floods the main room from the junction windows, and the long bar carries the cask and keg lines that are the reason most people walk in.

It is a community pub by design. A Monday pub quiz, regular tap takeovers featuring UK and overseas brewers, and the ACE Pizza counter give it a steady rhythm through the week rather than a single big night.

• Time Out and DesignMyNight both frame it as a Hackney beer destination rather than a generic local.
• CAMRA members rate the cask range and the consistency of the cellar.
• Google Maps reviews repeatedly pair the Five Points beer with ACE Pizza as the reason to return.
• Regulars treat the Monday quiz and the rotating tap takeovers as the calendar to watch.

• A beer drinker who wants well kept Five Points cask and keg at the source.
• Pizza and a pint between Hackney Central and Hackney Downs.
• Avoid if you are after cocktails or a late night dance floor.