Saint Monday
The house beer pours from tanks
that are not even 10 feet from where we brewed the beer,and the owners have said on the record that it tastes better from keg in their other pubs (venue, Pellicle).
Why go
The kit. Grace Land bought this railway arch and everything in it from Carlsberg for GBP 400,000, and what Carlsberg had spent on it in 2019 was over GBP 2m: a 15-hectolitre Kaspar Schulz brewing system from Bamberg, a compressed-air machine, a canning line, and a floor of mosaic tiles chosen by people who cared about floors. Will Hawkes called it far beyond what most new breweries can dream of
(Pellicle). The brewer is Mark Walewski, who came through Beavertown, Brew By Numbers, Alefarm in Denmark and Mikkeller's London brewpub, leading a team of three and opening with eight beers that ran from pilsner to Baltic porter. The site defeated its previous occupant: London Fields Brewery never really took flight despite early hype and, later, oodles of Carlsberg money,
partly because the arch had no outdoor space. Saint Monday cut some out of the front. Sixteen tap handles run along the bar and no two are the same, most of them looking like repurposed tools, some with skulls. One wall is gig posters. A glass wall separates the drinking from the brewing and is close to the only thing left of the old place.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is on the tanks, then a guest, because the international list runs from
US rarities to stone cold German and Belgium classics
(venue). The pale ale is the one beer Pellicle called excellent. There is a spicy pickle margarita and a long whisky list if beer is not the reason you came. - Avoid: assuming the tank beer is the best version of it. Co-owner Anselm Chatwin told Pellicle that "beer from these tanks doesn't taste as good as it does from kegs in our pubs," and his partner sent the writer to a sibling pub to prove it. Also avoid Mondays, when the bar is closed, which is a joke about the name.
What locals & experts say
- Will Hawkes, Pellicle, 6 December 2023, on what he drank:
Of the beers I try, the pale ale is excellent, but others are not quite there, particularly an American pale ale. It's muted, lacking zip, its New-World hop character pallid rather than punchy.
1 - Anselm Chatwin, co-owner, in the same piece, diagnosing it himself:
Beer from these tanks doesn't taste as good as it does from kegs in our pubs.
He adds the brewer's theory, that the beercomes directly from a very cold fermenter into a very cold tank.
Co-owner Andreas Akerlund's reply wasWe'll figure it out,
and he told Hawkes to go and taste the same beer at the Bethnal Green Tavern. Hawkes did, and reports it was much better there.1 - Jack Hobday, co-owner of Anspach & Hobday, on the people behind it:
Andreas and Anselm have been pivotal in many London breweries' success. They've shown tremendous foresight over the years; by embracing modern beer they've established new norms for what a London pub can offer.
1 - On the room, from the same feature:
This is a bar rather than a taproom, a very deliberate decision.
The tables and bar are copper, the branding is described as near invisible, and the logo is a crescent moon, stars and a brain with flames coming out of it.1 - Nothing has been published about the beer since December 2023, so whether the tank problem was solved is genuinely unknown.
Good to know
- Where: 4 Warburton Road, Hackney E8 3RR, in the arches by London Fields Overground, between Mare Street and the park.
- Timing: closed Monday. Tuesday 3pm to 11pm, Wednesday noon to 11pm, Thursday to Saturday noon to midnight, Sunday noon to 10pm.
- Booking: tables go through the venue's own booking system, and there is a garden.
- Hygiene: no FSA record exists for this venue, while two other businesses at the same arch address are rated 5. That is an absence of data, and the bar has no rating to claim.
- The drink beyond beer: cocktails including a spicy pickle margarita, a long whisky range and a wine list.
- The name: Saint Monday is the old trade custom of not working on a Monday. The bar closes on Mondays.
- Sites: the brewery and the bar share this arch behind a glass wall. Grace Land's other pubs, named by Pellicle, are The Black Heart, The Earl of Essex, The King's Arms, Bethnal Green Tavern, Red Hand and The Axe. Three of those are already in this database as separate entries, and Bethnal Green Tavern is where the brewery's own co-owner said the beer tastes better.
Verdict
should-visit — Take the detour for what is in the arch. Grace Land bought the former London Fields Brewery from Carlsberg for four hundred thousand pounds, and what came with it had cost Carlsberg over two million in 2019: a 15-hectolitre Kaspar Schulz system from Bamberg, a canning line, and a mosaic floor. The brewer running it, Mark Walewski, came through Beavertown, Brew By Numbers, Alefarm in Denmark and Mikkeller's London brewpub, and the house range at opening ran from pilsner to Baltic porter across a bar with sixteen mismatched tap handles and a glass wall onto the brewery. The beer pours from tanks about ten feet from where it was made. Here is the honest part, and it comes from the owners themselves: co-owner Anselm Chatwin told Pellicle that beer from those tanks does not taste as good as the same beer from keg in their other pubs, and his partner sent the writer to the Bethnal Green Tavern to compare, where it was better. Will Hawkes found the pale ale excellent and an American pale ale muted. That was December 2023 and nobody has published a tasting note since. So go for the room, the guest list of German and Belgian classics, and the chance the tank problem is solved, and know that the case is two and a half years old.