The Cock Tavern

Has to be one of my Top 5 boozers in London! Little or no food, a huge selection of real ales and ciders, and great service. A calm oasis on the crazy noisy mayhem of Mare Street. Great prices, too - less than a fiver for a great local ale. You'll never have a bad pint in here! 👍

Good selection of beers. Nice and friendly staff. Several options of board games to choose from.

Great local pub with a large bar. It has a bunch of beers and ales on tap + loads of ciders. Good place to meet people, definitely recommend stopping by for a pint

Seemed a bit surly service to me, but overall we had a good time relaxing. It’s quite stuffy inside, with only fans, so I would def go earlier in the afternoon like we did. Great variety of ciders on tap and a wicked strong cherry mead also available.

This is a real gem for those who like an authentic pub. It is cosy and the stools along the bar which have disappeared in most places give this an old-school feel. The staff were friendly and helpful and the pub had a nice bustling feel. It serves a good selection of ales and IPA on handpumps, with a good selection of canned beers & wines. Some nice touches are Bovril for £2 and an assortment pickled eggs, I'd recommend the marmite & balsamic flavours (see photo). All in all, this is the antithesis of the industrial gastropub and feels a little like stepping back in time 😊

Excellent cask and keg options, along with 6 ciders on handpull. Craft offerings but in a proper pub, just like we need. Always nice to find a place where the staff seem to be as happy as the customers to be there.

They need to go to Argos to invest in a 72in tv to fit snuggly above the door in replace of the tiny tv they have atm. Watching the football was not the best experience on such a small screen 😂

My partner and I really enjoyed the array of locally sourced ales and classic pub snacks like Scotch eggs and pork pies. I've added it to my barguide.london site too!

A very old style English Pub, I like the nostalgia of its old world charm. And I appreciate the variety of brew and single malt scotch. I can't think of a better way to spend an evening than with friends, good eats and a good drink to relax and destress.

The Cock Tavern is located on Mare St. in Hackney Central. It is by no means a trendy establishment, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Hackney has a funny mix of pubs, both classy and not so classy, and both sides of the spectrum have there advantages. The advantage of a place like the Cock Tavern, is that you don't have to deal with a pretentious crowd. The place is often very quite and is a bit of a locals bar. It has a kitschy English pub interior, complete with the dark, cave like atmosphere. If it was my place, I would let as much sunlight in as possible. It is definitely an alright place to have a quite drink with a friend, but not worth going out of your way for.

Geographically situated between hipster haven Oslo just up the road and the Wetherspoons down. The Cock manages to straddle both the worlds of traditional pubs and cheap pints and craft beers and ciders with consummate ease. The staff are friendly and happy to give you a taste of the beers before ordering and it's always busy enough for a bit of atmosphere, but never so busy that you couldn't find a seat, and if you can't, the bar is the best place to be anyway. One of Hackney's best kept secrets.

Very nice selection of craft beer brewed in the basement bebeath the bar. Friendly staff!

I almost didn't want to write a review on this place, as it's one of east london's endangered species. I have walked past here twice a day over the past two years, almost scared to look at the place. Guarded by Cockney woof whistling bearded alcoholics, that somewhat resemble a British Bull Dog. I wouldn't think twice of entering here, imagining I would come out alive, (or going back for seconds) But hey, I haven't been bribed to write this, or paid in a life times supply of London Pride, I genuinely liked the place. Its dark, its dirty, its no mans land... but its actually freedom. Freedom from the Shoreditch socialites, The hoorah Henrys, the wannabe fashion crazed people. Sure I might get winked at, I might even get bought a pint bought for me from a one toothed pirate, but i can sit here in freedom and write... yay!

I don't relly like this place, the service is terrible, I order a cider and was really hot. Crazy. We been in winter and was too hot inside. I'm sorry but I will never suggest this place, even not for a quick drink.

On all my visits to this pub I have been struck by how well run this pub is, all the staff behind the bar manage to remain friendly and chatty even when it gets super busy. There is a good atmosphere in the pub throughout and everyone is made to feel welcome whether a hipster or not. It mustn't be forgotten that in addition to their own Howling Hops beer brewed on the premises of which there are normally five or six to choose from the pub also serves a very wide selection of real cider. If you like craft beer or real cider or just like a decent pub you could do a lot worse than visiting the Cock Tavern. Top tip, if the pub is busy and there are no tables head for the small courtyard garden in the back.

Right, so this place was done over in the last year and it's now a brewpub. They serve house beers under the name of Howling Hops. They also offer beers from some of the UK's best breweries, with particular focus on East London breweries such as Brodies and The Kernel. The pub also maintains an oddly extensive range of cask ciders, usually around six or so. If I ever opened a pub, I would want it to look like the Cock Tavern. I love the aesthetic here. Lots of bare wood, some tiling behind the bar, salvaged furniture...I love it. The prices here are good and the staff both friendly and efficient. The pub has a modest range of snacks and pub grub. I've had the pickled egg, which I wholeheartedly recommend. I really like this pub and, while it is a destination in itself, it is walking distance from a handful of other fine drinkeries, among them the London Fields Brewery tap room, Duke's Brew and Cue, and Baxter's Court. Get thee to Hackney.

Old style english pub. In order to follow the scene, they started brewing downstairs. Many beers available, nice stop if you're around Mare Street in Hackney.

Any respectable East London pub crawl kicks off at The Cock Tavern in Hackney Central. Once home to Howling Hops- another brewery that outgrew its tanks and moved down the road- this pub showcases a vast and alternating selection on keg and cask. You'll find their current in-house microbrewery, Maregade Brew Co, on offer alongside local heroes such as The Five Points Brewery, Redchurch Brewery, Howling Hops and Pressure Drop. Other UK-based favourites, including Weird Beard and Moor Beer, are likely to be featured as well. The bar is cash only and the décor is no frills, but you are guaranteed to discover a good drop here.

Since the refurb, this place is immense. (but as advised on the door, watch your bags). Unlike most trendy pubs with a range of food, televisions on the walls and loud music, this does a massive range of beer; a range of pork pies that have to be believed, cider that can be just described as dfangerous, and the occasional tune. Forget the circle line pub crawl. start at one end on a rainy saturday and see if you can reach the other.

This is a local pub. For local people. I immediately got a sense of that when I walked in with a bunch of flamboyantly dressed lady friends and the entire venue's contents - consisting of the older geezers that prop up the bar, and sullen looking couples looked round at us as if we were from outer space. It was my friend's fault really. Silver catsuits are hardly a modest choice of clothing for a lady. We were in the process of disovering real ales, served in real bars; as people who were fed up of being ripped off in hipster and gastro pubs. Give me some authenticity! we thought. It was this sentiment that led us here. There was a karaoke night happening when we went; it was really entertaining (oftentimes hilarious) listening to some of the old crooners; especially when they veered out of tune. They do the usual fare during the week; pub quizzes, fags a jukebox, Indian pale ale. Decent prices though! £1.60 for a half cider. Thank you very much.

In an area where pubs are closing down .Its nice to find one that as a really good atmosphere,its one of those pubs where it dont take long before someone starts to chat to you,They have a pool table and a large screen and free sandwiches are put out during the day,There DJs monday and friday evenings and theres the monday club with reduced prices.Prices are average for the area,Sadly there is no real ale,and the staff are friendly.all in all its a real pub and sadly we are losing to many,

Most of these reviews are based on the old pub. The renovated place is quite simply the best pub in London for a real drink. Drinkers range from beer-bellied middle-aged ale obsessives to the hipsters you'd expect in this location, but the atmosphere is always just right, whether full or near-empty. Beer is from delicious (and expensive) craft breweries. The Howling Hops beer brewed in the basement is brilliant and cheap though!

Craft beer mecca. Me and the man make the walk from Stokey to Hackney Central just to see what they have on tap, and we are never disappointed by their well curated array of hoppy goodness, including their own in house brew. London breweries are strongly represented, and the bare bones decor of the place feels just right.

Really enjoyed this pub! It was our first stop as we are staying in the Hackney area and we were pleasantly surprised. The bartender was very friendly, let us sample the beers, and chatted with us for a while. They had a great array of beers and ciders. Will definitely go back again!

It is dark and cosy with the smallest, grimiest beer garden/smoking hole in London, but the beer and ale is worth coming for. Their brew their own and have twenty taps on rotation. The staff are happy to recommend. The balance is definitely tipped towards ale rather than keg craft but you will certainly find something tasty and most likely strong! I had a 8% saison that really did the job.