A few weeks ago we reported that a new beer and wine shop, and tap room, was opening in the former Children of the Mekong charity shop at the eastern end of Lavender Hill. This was a welcome return to having an independent beer shop, following the loss of We Brought Beer on St Johns Hill (which was reportedly due to lease difficulties).

And after a short delay (due to a delivery issue with the fridges) they are now fully open, and gradually building up a large stock of unusual beers and wines, with a strong emphasis on smaller and local breweries.

No Boring Beer are a small business created by beer enthusiasts Nikita and Roman; they already run two shops in south London – one in an arch in the square next to Deptford station, and one on Tower Bridge Road. Their beer tastes are clearly adventurous – with over 200 beers from local breweries and a large seasonal beer assortment. They’re not just selling bottled & canned beer either, with rotating draught lines in all three shops.

The whole shop has had a refit, with steel framed shelving throughout and a whole new electrical system to power all the fridges. One side is dedicated to ambient ales and wines, and the other to a large assortment of canned ales, lagers and ciders. A selection of beers on tap is on offer to refill growlers (reusable beer bottles). On the shelves opposite there’s a small selection of wine, but this is just to get things going with a lot more on the way, as well as detailed descriptions of the wines.

The basement level – accessed via a spiral staircase at the back if the shop – is currently not in use, but will later be developed as a tasting room (which is why No Boring Beer is a fully licensed premises, rather than just an off licence).

Beers on tap are sold using Keykegs, a rather clever approach to the traditional beer barrel that we’d not seen before, where an inner flexible liner made of an aluminium foil laminate within a solid PET keg keeps the beer separated from the gases used to push it out, and extends shelf life.

The fridges themselves are starting to fill with a pretty eclectic mix of ales, lagers and ciders. When we visited they was already a pretty wide mix on offer, but we understand that this is just the beginning, and there is a great deal more stock on the way to add to the range.

It’s worth noting that we have an ever expanding number of small local breweries, including established players Mondo and Sambrooks, and joined by the Distortion Brewing Company near Wandsworth Road station, Belleville Brewing Co at Wandsworth Common, and the very smart Battersea Brewery in the power station complex. And that’s far from the only Battersea alcoholic beverage business, with the likes of the Blackbook winery and the Doghouse Distillery both hidden away among the railways near Queenstown Road. We may run a future article on these!

So it’s a warm welcome to No Boring Beer, at 22 Lavender Hill Sw11, and who (at the time of writing) are open in the afternoon from Tuesday to Saturday.