With its muted, dark grey paintwork and large, wood-panelled windows, Stormbird doesn't look like much to the casual passer-by.

They might see a few locals happily chatting away by the windows, or on a sunny day, standing out on the curb, pints in hand. Inside, a long, wooden bar serves drinks out of its 15 taps and 5 cask lines in the background. It usually requires someone in the know to convince a newcomer to head inside and discover this pub's many charms.

Situated just off perennially busy Camberwell Green junction in South London, Stormbird is in the middle of a hub of activity, despite being an unassuming, blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of place. It’s boss, Maura Gannon, has quite the pedigree in pub management. In her own words she "grew up” in [sister pub] The Hermit's Cave, which she still lives above. Her parents took on the Hermit’s Cave lease in 1988, which was at the time owned by Whitbread (previously the UK’s third-largest brewer before their sale to Interbrew, now AB InBev). Maura took over the reins in 2000, after her parents retired.

"The idea of managing a pub such as Stormbird came from a childish desire to have my own place where I could sell whatever beer I wanted without the frustrations of working with external management," Maura tells me. "My father encouraged me to go talk to the owners of Stormbird's previous tenants—nightclub The Funky Munky—when it was closing down. Next thing I knew, I had the lease and ran my very own pub."

““The idea of managing a pub such as Stormbird came from a childish desire to have my own place where I could sell whatever beer I wanted.””

— Maura Gannon

She fondly reminisces about trips abroad to the United States and Belgium with her partner, which inspired her vision for Stormbird. "I was really impressed by the large selection of beers and a relaxed atmosphere those bars offered and wanted to bring that to London," she says. Stormbird's cosiness is one of its main attractions. Music is either unobtrusive or off completely, wooden tables are set up to encourage conversation, in plain view of the large windows or the board displaying that day's eclectic range of keg and cask beer offerings.

Maura, who is these days largely based at her third pub, The Star and Garter in Bromley, embodies a passion for both beer and customer service. She has earned a solid reputation within South London and its craft beer scene, even if she finds the organisational aspects of running three pubs a little overwhelming at times.

On the name, however, 'Stormbird' is a secret between herself and her biggest supporter, her father Brendan. It’s a large part of the appeal that represents the pub's near-decade of success.

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Camberwell has always been a slightly awkward corner of South London. It’s a peculiar location because—in lieu of its own—it relies on its proximity to five stations: Elephant & Castle to the north, Queens Road Peckham in the east, Denmark Hill to the south as well as Oval, and Brixton to the west. As a result, the area feels like it’s own micro-community, untroubled by tourists who won't stray much further than the South Bank, or the upwardly mobile, who tend to stick to trendy and perennially up-and-coming and well connected Peckham.

Camberwell is grounded by a lack of pretension, a melting pot of the fairly affluent living on the gorgeous Georgian terraced houses of leafy, desirable Grove Lane, the Afro-Caribbean community that populates in large numbers between here, Peckham and Brixton and the art students from the nearby college. Stormbird is surrounded by Camberwell’s fiercely independent and highly-regarded food scene, home to Silk Road—one of the city's most loved Chinese restaurants—various Caribbean eateries, along with excellent pizza and falafel options. An added benefit of drinking at Stormbird is that take-away food is allowed to be brought in from these excellent food outlets.

Stormbird was my first local when I moved to London in 2013 and I immediately found the city less intimidating as a result. My flatmate at the time swore by the place and insisted we go as soon as I was moved in. He wasn't wrong. The pub’s welcoming nature, thanks to its friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere gave me a sense of my new home while discovering a whole world of beers old and new, local and from further afield, while remaining affordable even to those like me, moving from Glasgow, cynical of London’s high cost of living.

"The selection is always amazing," Grace Whitby, Brand Manager at Fourpure Brewing Company, and longtime Stormbird local, tells me. "With the [hand] doodled font badges and the egalitarian price structure—which is great for people like me who are price conscious but also wanting some Deya. It’s more whimsical than most craft beer bars. I will often get re-dressed and go out again after getting home from work if someone suggests a pint at Stormbird on a Wednesday."

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"I've never had a specific vision for Stormbird beyond offering a great selection of beer and letting that do the talking,” Maura tells me. “There's no agenda in what beers we offer, or profit margins to achieve, we listen to our customers and what is popular with them and order beer according to that. One of my favourite things about managing a pub is witnessing a customer come through our doors, ordering a beer they enjoy and watching their shoulders drop as they start to relax."

Jeremy Gray, who for several years has been charting the growth of London’s beer scene via his website, Beer Guide London, agrees that Stormbird has a great formula. “[They] retain well-kept and interesting cask alongside an excellent selection of keg beers and hidden gems in the fridges, seemingly giving customers what they want."

Cask beer is a particular passion for Maura, who learnt through running The Hermit's Cave—which sits literally across the road—of its power. "In the mid-2000s we started ordering Brodie's cask selection to The Hermit's Cave and immediately saw an uptake in popularity with our locals,” she says. “The [now sadly closed] Leyton-based brewery was extremely important to London tastes at the time as it encouraged the resurgence of cask beer which opened the door for the burgeoning craft beer scene inspiring the likes of The Kernel."

““Stormbird is a bastion of craft beer for the whole surrounding area of south east London.””

— Sam Dickison, Boxcar Brewery

Despite The Hermit's Cave and Stormbird’s distinctly different characteristics between trad and trendy, Maura assures me there are customers who steadfastly refuse to visit the other venue, despite bar staff often seen crossing the road to return glasses.

Both pubs have maintained a passion for cask beer. Stormbird will often offer more adventurous or modern cask pours, for around £4.20 a pint (a bargain in the capital where cask can fetch upwards of six pounds), while The Hermit’s Cave will stick to classics such as Marble’s Pint or Fyne Ales’ Jarl. This makes both destinations popular for members of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). Eric Camfield of the organisations South East London and Camberwell branch remarks how he appreciates “the traditional feel of The Hermit’s Cave's consistently fantastic cask selection but I also love how I can drink my way around the world at Stormbird.”

Another regular, and head brewer at Bethnal Green’s Boxcar brewery Sam Dickison, is also a big fan. "I live just around the corner, I often meet up with other brewers to play board games on Sundays,” he says. “Stormbird is a bastion of craft beer for the whole surrounding area of south east London. Its approach to sourcing the best beer goes back further than many other pubs."

Recently one evening, a colleague of mine suggested we visit Stormbird, having heard cult imperial stout Good King Henry from Suffolk’s Old Chimney’s brewery was pouring. The beer was indeed fantastic; rich and warming in its decadence. The bartender also recommended a beautifully oaky bourbon barrel-aged stout from Scotland’s Tempest Brewery, which I enjoyed interspersed with pints of Jarl and Deya’s Steady Rolling Man pale ale. I felt content knowing that Stormbird will forever remain a fixture of so many good memories in my London lifetime, always reliably there to pick me up after a long day’s slog.