Tap East opened its doors for the first time in 2011 several years before the explosion of breweries across the UK that would happen later in the decade. Having run a successful wholesale business, along side the Rake in Borough market for a number of years, Mike Hill and Richard Dinwoodie were approached by Westfield about the possibility of opening a brewpub in their new site next to the Olympic park in Stratford which they accepted and after several months, lots of building work, and a brewery being shipped down from Cumbria , Tap East was born. Today the bar offers a welcome respite from the mono-culture of chain stores that populate much of the rest of the centre, while beers produced on site have won a number of awards over the years.