Author: Paul Manning

Our vice chair, Paul Manning and his wife, Bev went on a baseball and beer trip to London in late June.

After travelling down on National Express we booked into our hotel which was the Hayden Pub and Rooms in Bayswater – a great base for our 3 day trip which was in 30C + temperatures (great timing before the July washout)!

The Hayden’s on tap beers were Meantime Anytime IPA (4.7%) and Salt Loom pale (4%) both very drinkable. The first evening we headed over to Brixton and after a pint of London Pride each in the Beehive Wetherspoons (cheapest pint we had all weekend at £2.49)

We visited London Beer labs in a railway arch in nearby Nursery rd. We joined another 12 or so drinkers for a 10 tap beer tasting mostly brewed by the London beer lab co. The company was set up in 2012 and to date have brewed over 9000 different recipes. The beers went from a Kaiser Pils at 4.6% to Brixton Haze NEIPA, Saison DuPont, Russia Coloda Whitbeir and Black lab stout. A great start to our weekend and a quirky place to seek out if in London.

The next day we had booked on a London Craft Beer cruise which ran for 2 and a half hours along the Thames from Millbank to Greenwich and back. We each had 6 craft beers in very generous portions along with a take home commemorative glass. The beers included close to home Thornbridge Jaipur and am/pm and Siren brews DDH Calypso and Soundwave.

We then had another couple of hours sat outside at the Morpeth Arms, a Youngs pub which had great views of the river opposite the MI6 building. We both stayed on Peckham Ale from London’s Brick Brewery which was a superb brew.

A visit to a Greene king The Kings head in Bayswater for a pint of Level Head pale preceded a number of fantastic cocktails back at the Hayden (Buy a Guardian and banana old fashioned being our favourites). 

The next day we journeyed to the London stadium home of West Ham Utd to watch MLB baseball where the Chicago Cubs played the St Louis Cardinals. The game was excellent with the Cardinals winning in front of 56000 fans. A great surprise was to find two craft beers brewed for the event being London Series Pale and The Birds and the Bears Tart ale both at 4.5%. The MLB returns to London next year in June and we will be back. We finished our trip with a trip to Portobello market and had a fabulous brunch with gins at Portobello Road Gin distillery. 

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