Understudy
Enormous copper piping runs from a beer tank straight to the bar under the National Theatre, and the terrace outside it spills onto the South Bank walk all year round (The Nudge).
Why go
It opened in the week of 21 October 2014 as part of the National Theatre's renovation, and Londonist got there before the official launch with the argument that still explains the place: If the South Bank lacked anything, it was a relaxed bar selling decent beer
(Londonist). It has since taken over a sizeable chunk of the theatre's ground floor and roughly doubled.
The taps rotate and the buying is local by design. In 2014 that meant Redchurch, Five Points, Fourpure and a Brew By Numbers saison alongside a lot of Meantime. Nothing from that list is what you will find now, which is the clearest evidence the rotation is real. The venue puts cocktails on tap too and says its sourcing runs to carbon-negative beer and UK ingredients (venue).
Food is KERB's. The street-food incubator curates the traders in residence, and they change often enough that two sources read on the same day name different line-ups: one has Hash Hut's loaded hash browns and MexClub's tacos, the other Meltdown Cheeseburgers and Sen Noods, and both name Sireli, whose flatbreads come piled with lamb shoulder, falafel or crispy chicken (South Bank London). In summer KERB spreads across the square in front of the building with half a dozen trucks and two pop-up riverside bars.
One thing worth knowing that no listing mentions: the bar is a working site for KERB+, a not-for-profit social enterprise, where people on a Coaching for Work programme get hands-on hospitality training alongside regular coaching.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever London brewery has the taps this week, and take it outside. Sireli's flatbread if it is still the resident, piled and topped with spiced condiments. A cocktail off the tap, which is how they pour them here.
- Avoid: planning a meal around a particular trader, because KERB moves them. Coming for a long beer list, because the list is short on purpose. Sunday nights, when it shuts before the rest of the week.
What locals & experts say
- Rachel Holdsworth, Londonist, in its opening week, October 2014, on the beer, honestly:
no, the range isn't as extensive as somewhere like the Old Red Cow or Craft Beer Co's rapidly expanding empire. The range on draft is heavy on the Meantime... but they're concentrating on London breweries.
On the room:The decor is basic wood and simple seating with the occasional sofa, but the real draw is the floor to ceiling window looking out onto the river.
1 - The same review on when to come:
the perfect time for this bar will be a weekend afternoon, watching the sun go down over a leisurely pint or three.
Two pints came to GBP 9.50 in 2014, which she called fair for the location.1 - The Nudge, on the terrace:
All year round, tables and chairs spill out onto the South Bank itself, for festoon-lit views of the river and the London skyline. In winter, groups huddle round with warming mugs of cider and mulled wine; in summer, a temporary stage is set up for live music, comedy and cabaret.
4 - Nobody has reviewed it since 2014. No Time Out page, no CAMRA record, nothing in the London chef-vote file.
Good to know
- Where: the ground floor of the National Theatre, Upper Ground SE1 9PX, next to the Dorfman. Waterloo or Southwark tube, or walk the Queen's Walk to it.
- Timing: noon to midnight most days, 1am Thursday to Saturday, Sunday until 10pm. Food stops at 10pm, 9pm on Sunday. The source page's own hours lines overlap, so treat these as approximate and check before a late one.
- Booking: the venue's rule is plain: bookings for groups of four or more, through SevenRooms. Smaller than that, walk in.
- The terrace: all year, and it is the reason to come. A stage goes up in summer for live music, comedy and cabaret.
- Food: KERB traders in residence, rotating. Two sources read the same day disagreed about who is currently in, which tells you how often it changes.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Lambeth, inspected 25 May 2026, FHRSID 810904, with points lost only on structure and management confidence. The bar holds its own registration, separate from the theatre's.5
- Also on: a recurring Friday afternoon parents-and-babies wine tasting run by an outside organiser, per the South Bank listing.
- Behind the bar: it is a training site for KERB+, a not-for-profit running a hospitality Coaching for Work programme.
- Reachability note: the National Theatre's own website is behind a CloudFront block and could not be read by either fetch route on 30 July 2026, so everything first-party here comes from the bar's own site.
Verdict
could-visit — Go if you are on that stretch of river, and go for the terrace. The Understudy is the National Theatre's ground-floor bar, opened in October 2014, and the room has a wood-panelled bar, old NT production posters and enormous copper piping running from a beer tank straight to the taps. The terrace is the actual product: tables spilling onto the South Bank itself all year, festoon lights and the skyline across the water, a temporary stage in summer for music and comedy, mulled wine and cider in winter. The taps rotate and the buying is deliberately local, which is the venue's own claim and is borne out by the fact that nothing on the 2014 list is on it now. Food comes from KERB street-food traders in residence, and they change too, so two sources read on the same day name different line-ups with only Sireli's flatbreads in common. What holds it at could-visit is depth. Londonist said in its opening week that 'the range isn't as extensive' as London's serious beer bars, and nobody has published an assessment since, so the honest position is a short, well-chosen local list rather than a beer destination. The same review made the argument that still stands: this stretch of the river had nowhere relaxed to drink a decent pint before it existed.