The Sun Tavern
The bar holds the world's largest legal collection of poitin, Ireland's pre-legalization spirit, which still gets bottled anywhere from 40 to 90 percent (Time Out, 50 Best Discovery).
Why go
Poitin was illegal in Ireland from 1661 until 1997, which is why almost nobody has a deep list of it, and why this one is worth a trip. The bar runs intimate Poitin masterclasses exploring the illicit past of the original uisce beatha,
so the collection is teaching material and not just shelf decoration (venue). Behind it sits a 200-bottle Irish spirits list with a rare and vintage shelf the bar calls The Private Collection, plus ten keg taps that the venue says are all brewed in London from independent breweries
and change too often to print (venue). The building has traded as a pub since 1851 and was rebuilt as this in October 2014 by the Umbrella Project team, whose first venue was Discount Suit Company (Umbrella Project, The Nudge). One of its bartenders, Ethan Baker, made the Diageo World Class GB top 50 for 2026 (CLASS).
Order this / avoid
- Order: a poitin flight first, then a poitin-laced Irish coffee, which is where the spirit's grainy weight actually makes sense (The Nudge). For cocktails, the tankard-served Wobbles on Cobbles, or In Bloom, which Square Mile describes as IPA and absinthe
shaken up together
and held in line by kiwi cordial5. Time Out's pick is blunter:The Swanton Bomb will knock your socks off
1. Food is the mixed charcuterie board with Neal's Yard cheese. - Avoid: expecting cask. CAMRA's branch record says cask ale is not available and the ten lines are keg3. Skip this room if you need step-free access, per the same record.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out (17 December 2024), Jordan Bassett, Recommended:
somewhere between old-school boozer and nu-school bar, largely due to its array of cocktails and a rather refined snack menu that edges into charcuterie board.
On the poitin: "it actually goes down very easily, a little too easily, if anything."1 - 50 Best Discovery, Alex Husic:
this is a bartender's bar,
with drinks thatundulate between retro-historic storytelling and on-the-money technique,
and ten tapsserving ales from microbreweries within 10 miles.
2 - Tower Hamlets Slice (4 July 2021), Niamh Carroll, in the borough paper's pub round-up:
known for its excellent cocktails and whiskey selection. The clientele consists mostly of young people prone to wearing flares and dungarees.
4 - Square Mile (15 November 2021), Lauren Ramsay:
a sophisticated dive bar with speakeasy inspired cocktails and a large helping of Irish culture,
and dog friendly.5 - World Class GB, Diageo, 2026: Ethan Baker of The Sun Tavern named in the top 50 finalists, drawn from
hundreds of entries.
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Good to know
- Timing: noon to midnight Sunday through Wednesday, noon to 2am Thursday through Saturday, per the venue, CAMRA and Time Out alike. Live music every Saturday and Sunday, DJs to close at the end of the week.
- Booking: tables can be booked through the venue site, and service runs at the bar and tableside. Coffee comes in from The Roasting Shed in Hackney Wick and goes on at noon (The Nudge).
- Access: CAMRA's statement is
small step at entrance. No accessible toilet. Steps to main toilets
3. Bethnal Green Underground is 300m away. - Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 30 April 2025 by Tower Hamlets, FHRSID 148443 (record).
- Provenance: listed as an Asset of Community Value; freehold with London Loft (Guernsey) Ltd, leasehold with Mixology Events Ltd, operated by Umbrella Project3.
- Namesake warning: there is another The Sun Tavern at 66 Long Acre in Covent Garden with its own FSA record. The pub on this page is the Bethnal Green Road one.
Craft signals (Irish spirits: depth, which is why no evolution: value is recorded)
Rotation is the wrong axis here and marking this bar static would be a misreading. Whisky and spirits are judged on back-bar depth and rarity, and this back bar is the deepest of its kind anywhere: the world's most expansive legal poitin collection, London's largest Irish whiskey list, around 200 bottles on an ever-growing spirits list, and a rare and vintage shelf kept separately as The Private Collection. Two signals, both drink-side and neither a rating: the collection itself, described consistently across the venue's own list and the trade coverage cited above, and the bar work built on it.
Verdict
must-visit — Plan around it if you care about Irish spirits, because what is behind this bar does not exist anywhere else. The pub holds the world's most expansive collection of legal poitin and London's largest Irish whiskey list, an ever-growing Irish spirits list running to around 200 bottles with a rare and vintage shelf kept as The Private Collection. Depth is the axis in this category rather than rotation, and depth at that scale is the definition of a thing you cannot get elsewhere: a rare poitin or a vintage Irish bottling is not a drink you order somewhere else on a different night. The bar work around it is real too, poitin-laced Irish coffee, an IPA and absinthe build cut with kiwi cordial, tankard swizzles. Food stops at charcuterie and Neal's Yard cheese, so eat first. The 1851 building and the Asset of Community Value listing are a bonus and not the argument.