Vespers, Bury St. Edmunds

A Belgian beer bar, small square plain room with Belgian brewery signs as decor, many keg roundels adore a ceiling beam. Fifteen keg taps on the back wall, about eight from the Low Countries with some UK and German beers on the others. Two fridges hold a selection of bottles and cans of similar provenance, more coolers behind the counter have even more goodies. All tall seating at either drinking shelf or disused casks. A shelf has lots of packs of playing cards and one cask had a strange game on top. Toilets and much more seating are upstairs. As a fan of these beers I loved it but traditional English beer and pub fans may feel stretched.

Vespers is a “Belgian Beer Bar” in a building that used to house a charity shop, a hardware shop and a saddlery. The laminate floored bar is located through a central arch and to the left, to be honest it does feel like a shop conversion. There were about 15 overseas keg options available from the very friendly barman/owner who was manning the counter that runs across the rear wall. There was also a very friendly local at the counter who engaged me in conversation, and a large group of thirty-something rugby playing lads added some atmosphere. There was low background music playing, I think mainly to drown out the humming of the fridge stocked with craft cans for those who think 15 keg options aren’t enough. The toilets are located upstairs where there’s a surprisingly large room that stretches the length of the building, I think a bit more money has been spent on the décor up here than in the bar area. I thought that Real Ale Ray, a Pubs Galore friend, would like it in here, so being the first decent shop converted bar I’ve been into since his passing I decided to try my first ever sour in his honour. I really liked the taste, but it smelt like old socks, and the friendly local informed we that it was an entry level sour… I think entry level on the sour front is enough for me. I enjoyed my visit here and will return next time I’m in town.

Speciality Belgian beer bar.

Facebook page of Vespers - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of Vespers - www.facebook.com

Official site of Vespers - www.vespersbar.co.uk