Nonsuch The Bottom Line
I liked the atmosphere of Nonsuch a lot – if someone were to ask me to point out a British pub (and there are lots of them in Japan, let alone Tokyo) then Nonsuch would be quite high up on the list. With lots of British rock and indie music playing, a friendly chatty atmosphere, and some decent beers on tap, there are some good points to it. The only problems with Nonsuch, and it’s going to annoy a lot of people, is that it is a smoking place – something we found out on our second visit there and that the prices are towards the pricier end of Tokyo prices if you’re going for UK pints. Thankfully all the prices include tax and there isn’t a table charge either. If you’re worried about English, then you shouldn’t be as the staff were very friendly and tried to communicate in English – perhaps because our drunken Japanese ramblings couldn’t be understood.
Quite spacious for a small bar.
Nonsuch The Full Review
Bar 4 in the small crawl of Ikebukuro ended up at Nonsuch – a British pub that has been open since the middle of 2015. The whole concept of the bar is based around UK beers and UK music, and is located about 5 minutes from the west exit of Ikebukuro stations. I’m sure there are some metro exits nearby that are closer but I got lost going to Darcy’s so I wasn’t going to attempt using the underground passageways to find here. Nonsuch is quite easy to find if you know where you’re going but make sure you look out for a lit up sign just outside the door, else you might end up walking past the street. What’s with the name I hear you ask? The name NONSUCH comes from the twelfth album title by the English band XTC.
Nonsuch is located in between Ikebukuro station and also Kanamacho station on the y the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line and the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line. The entrance is quite small so make sure you are looking out for it. There are 25 seats in the bar, with 8 counter seats and another 15 dotted around tables in the bar. There is also a small sofa which you can rest on but the main problem with Nonsuch is that it is a fully smoking place, so be warned. While the lack of table charge does offset against this, it was only the second time I went to Nonsuch that I noticed the smoke. Perhaps because the first time I was a bit too drunk to notice much.
There are five taps of craft beer on at Nonsuch – with one of those being a Japanese macro beer, with it being Kirin Heartland both times we went. The other beers vary between British and domestic types, though they staff at Nonsuch do list on their Twitter and Facebook pages the beers on. The beers come in three sizes: half UK pint (284ml) from ¥700 to ¥800, regular (370ml or thereabouts) from ¥850 to ¥950 and finally UK pints (568ml) from ¥1,300 to ¥1,400. The prices include tax but still are towards the pricier end of beers in Tokyo. We didn’t notice any happy hour nor any beer flights either.
I didn’t try any of the food at Nonsuch, mainly because I was stuffed from eating at the previous places and also I was kind of hoping for a Burger King on the way back – hey, I was drunk both times I ended up leaving Nonsuch. However, with the bar being British, the food was also heavily leaning towards traditional British food, such as pies, and the of course the mandatory fish and chips. Next time I go, I’ll get some food!
Nonsuch Details
Open: Tuesday to Saturday 19:00 to 04:00 (L.O 03:30) Sunday 16:00 to 01:00 (L.O 00:30)
Closed: Mondays. If Tuesday is a national holiday, then Monday will be open and then closed on Tuesday.
Happy Hour: None
Phone: 03-3981-4811
Homepage (in Japanese): http://beerpub-nonsuch.com/index.html
How to Get to Nonsuch
Nonsuch is located in about a 5-minute walk from Ikebukuro station and a 10-minute walk from Kanamacho station on the y the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line and the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line
