Our selection of the best Hackney Wick bars

All My Friends is all about music, plain and simple. DJs spin their collections on a custom hi-fi system delivering more intimate living room-style sessions rather than that club feel we’re used to at The Cause (the same great team is behind All My Friends).

The ground floor is home to a record shop, stocking everything new and used from electronic to rare disco finds. Between the record shop, bar, and DJ sets, All My Friends manages to be that rare place that’s both chill during the day, and great for spending the night in.

We’ve enjoyed everything from a couple of afternoon pints to a heavy night soundtracked by great tunes. It’s a top pick and worth the trip to Hackney Wick if you don’t live there.

Located on the River Lea, and with a gorgeous tree-lined deck for a beer garden, we’d be remiss not to add Two More Years to our list. We don’t know what we like more: dancing late into the night at the weekend or sipping cocktails river-side.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Two More Years occupies a vast industrial warehouse, it makes the most of the space by being a top-class bar and music venue. It also means there’s plenty of room for all that dancing.

There are DJ sets every weekend and the DJs have a penchant for all things electronic, House, and Disco, and we’re big fans of this. It’s our pick for an early-evening and late-night place. In the early evening, go outside, sit at a candle-lit table on the deck, and late at night, go inside and dance underneath the disco ball.

Beer Merchants Tap is one of several craft beer joints in Hackney Wick. With 20 keg taps, 2 cask pumps, and a motherlode of 500+ bottles and cans from top breweries, it's a beer lover's paradise.

Set in an old brick warehouse, the inside is actually a little more polished than industrial. Outside, there’s a spacious beer garden set with long tables and benches that’s quite the sun trap in the afternoon.

To complement all your beer, the Beer Merchants Tap offers cheese boards with cheeses from La Fromagerie, charcuterie boards with meats from Crown & Queue, a cold counter selection from Happy Belly and Brays Cottage as well as regular food pop-ups. All this goodness under one roof, it’s almost like they don’t want you to leave.

Old Street Brewery & Taproom is brought to you by a band of drunken misfits – their words – looking to bring you American-style craft beer. Are we still in Hackney Wick, Toto? Yes, let’s unpack this a little.

The Hackney Wick bar is clearly nowhere near Old Street, it’s just around the corner from the Overground, but its founder Adam was living in Old Street when he started his business, hence the name.

Second, said Adam is originally from the US which is why his brewery and taproom showcases the best of American-style craft beer brewed in London. The brewery is home to beers with great names such as Vlad the IPALer and Herculade Sports Beer, as well as an ever-evolving mix of expertly crafted experimental beers.

Hackney Wick is full of bars and brewery taprooms in old warehouses, but the Lord Napier is an honest-to-goodness pub. Well, it is covered in graffiti and its interior is highly contemporary, but the building has always been a pub, and that’s what counts.

It has a ground-floor bar and the Blue Bar upstairs as well as a roof terrace with great views of all those converted warehouses and industrial new-builds. It’s located just around the corner from Hackney Wick Overground; fair warning: be wary of going during West Ham home games, as the pub is a favourite pre-match meet-up and can get a little packed.

May we present to you the Hackney Wick bar for when the gang is feeling up for a good old friendly competition over drinks. Rule Zero has an impressive collection of board games and tabletop games that make for a rather wholesome night – minus the drinking, that’s probably not wholesome.

Rule Zero is a reminder that there are other things to do besides drink and dance, that it’s fun to find out just how competitive your pals are and reveal to them what a sore loser you are – we didn’t mean that, we’re sure you’re great at games.

Another industrial Hackney Wick setting, Rule Zero is super spacious and an ideal spot for brunch, lunch, or a cheeky afternoon pint and a game of cards. It may not be as wild as some of the other places but between games, live music events, and cocktails it holds its own in the Hackney Wick bar scene.

It may be another brewery but it is the only tank bar in Hackney Wick. Located near the Overground in Queen’s Yard, Howling Hops has earned its way onto our list for bringing in new beers weekly and pouring beers straight from the tank.

Available by the pint, ⅓ pint, ½ pint, and ⅔ pint measures or in 4-pint pitchers, that’s a lot of beer straight from the tank. For those friends who aren’t into their beers, Howling Hops is still a certified Hackney Wick bar serving cider, wines, and spirits. We’d also like to give honourary mention to the Sri Lankan street food-inspired menu dreamt up by Kottu House.

Chances are you’ve walked past the Milk Float while walking along the canal. It’s hard to miss the folk sitting on the roof terrace having a beer or a cocktail – yes, even in winter, they’ve got heaters up on the roof.

Inside the boat’s cabin, tucked under its low ceiling, ​you’ll find small bar tables with candles and seats with hand-knitted blankets thrown over the backs – the kind of blankets your grandma used to knit. It’s the epitome of cosy, the cocktails are great, and the burgers are filthy good.

You can hire the deck, the cabin, or both for a party or special event and because it’s a canal boat, it’s the ideal size for events more on the intimate side with a capacity of 60 – engagement party or pal’s birthday party. We’ll never get tired of being somewhere when we get the whole place to ourselves.

It’s hard to miss No90 Hackney Wick, nothing about the place is nuanced. The bar is covered in murals, located canal-side, and is usually banging their tunes day and night. Step inside and it’s hard to miss their giant disco bar overhead, and it has to be big, that industrial space with its high ceilings is massive, great for parties and events.

Wanting something a little bit smaller? No90 has you covered – they have a 30 ft canal boat parked on the canal available for private hire with a capacity of 20 for private dining, 80 standing, and during summer, 60 up on the roof for dancing.

Beers, burgers, cocktails, it’s all good at No90, and we like that there’s plenty of room to dance and that people actually do. Go in the afternoon if you want something a little more relaxed, but if you’re looking for something a little more wild at night, this is your spot.

The Lock Inn along the Lee River Navigation is a no-fuss, no-bother kind of bar. The three brothers who opened the place also run the restaurant next door, they wanted to create a space for Hackney Wick locals and they’ve done just that.

The Lock Inn focuses on great drinks from wines to cocktails to tap takeovers, and quality bar burgers and pizzas – you always know it’s going to be good when the menu is small and simple as there’s no room for errors.

Located in a newer building, and not in the typical Hackney Wick warehouse, the Lock Inn is a breath of fresh air with its relaxing atmosphere and live music, and we love that they appreciate a good cocktail as much as a craft beer.