Our vice chair, Paul Manning and his wife Bev visited Fullers brewery and a number of pubs in London.
We visited Fullers brewery which is on the bank of the Thames at Chiswick. Although Fullers is now owned by Asahi, brewing their famous brews continues on the site as it has since 1845. The brewery itself although being fully modernised still retains much of its previous equipment which can be viewed on their excellent tour.
The brewery is also home to reputedly the oldest wisteria plant in the Uk grown on the outside wall of the head brewers house since 1816. The kit included modern tanks holding 96,000 pints to old open brewing tanks which due to some furry visitors that used to sample the brew gave rise to the phrases ‘rat arsed’ and ‘bottoms up’ as they floated with their behinds upwards! The tour concluded with sampling time of numerous brews including London Pride, ESB, Oliver’s Island, Black Cab stout and their seasonal amber ale Red fox. They also brew Dark Star and Gayles beers.
A very pleasant walk on the Thames Path to Hammersmith bridge followed including visits to The Ship Inn, a Youngs pub and the famous Dove pub serving more Fullers brews.
A later in the day trip was made to the Star Tavern in Belgravia which has been in every Good Beer guide since inception and rumoured to be where the Great Train Robbery was planned in the 1960’s. We tasted more Fullers London Pride and London Porter plus a cask by the excellent pint of Radio Silence by the Falmouth brewers Verdant.
We also took in the Churchill Arms in Kensington another Fullers pub which is famous for its outdoor floral displays especially at Christmas and home to great Thai food.
Another great trip to the capital.
Paul Manning
