Many a middle-aged man dreams of opening his own pub. And that’s precisely what 1980s soul boy Rick Never Gonna Give You Up Astley has done – in collaboration with cult Copenhagen brewer, Mikkeller. The tiny tavern’s stripped-back decor is now a far cry from the high-camp days of previous occupant The George & Dragon. Astley’s poppy chart-toppers are memorialised in brass plaques set into tables, and the Top 20 draughts are chalked up weekly above the bar’s mighty beer wall.
A dauntingly long list is helpfully broken down by style: ‘dark & malty’, ‘light & hoppy’ or ‘sour & funky’, for instance. Homeboy hits such as Mikkeller’s Mexican-style lager, La Sirenita, and Hallo Ich Bin Berliner – a Germanic white beer brewed with either raspberries or blackcurrants – are backed up by worthies from the likes of Warpigs, Pressure Drop and bold Belgian lambic beers such as Tilquin’s wondrous Walloon gueuzes.