Category: UK

15 July saw a branch social trip to Torrside brewery in New Mills, a town just a 45 minute train ride from Sheffield (less from Dore & Totley station where I got on!).

The brewery is a 10 minute walk from New Mills Central station, next to the canal marina. The easiest walking route is actually via the main road, however just for the experience we decided to walk down there via the more scenic route using the Millenium walkway, with the river running an absolute torrent below us! I learned the hard way this choice wasn’t ideal for those that suffer from vertigo!

The tap session at the brewery was already quite busy when we got there with a friendly crowd but no queue at the bar, making it easy to ask about the beer.

Torrside brew quite a broad, interesting range of beers and the choice on the bar included session pales, smoked stouts, traditional bitter, wheat beers and even a Belgian style quad.

Complimenting the beer was a Japanese food trailer and I can confirm the pork Okonomiyaki was delicious.

A number of people from areas around New Mills and Stockport that I knew from various beer festivals were there offering a great opportunity for a catch up and time flew as various beers were sampled.

After walking back into the town centre there was about 20 minutes until the train back to Sheffield so a visit to the Beer Shed micropub near Central station was fitted in where a mild from Torrside brewery that wasn’t on at the tap session was enjoyed!

If you fancy a trip there yourself, the brewery open for tap events on selected weekends through the summer, check their Facebook page or website for details. The train service from Sheffield to New Mills Central is operated by Northern and runs hourly throughout the afternoon and into the evening, a Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket covers the journey there and back for £14.

The brewery is actually just across the road from New Mills Newtown station, unfortunately Sheffield trains don’t go there as it is on the Buxton-Manchester line.

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

A mid-December London trip by committee member Paul Manning and his wife Bev

Our long arranged trip, which coincided with the start of Omicron, got underway after boosters and negative lateral flow tests, with a train journey from Sheffield to St Pancras on a sparsely populated East Midlands train. We were in need of some refreshment on arrival so went in the Barrel Vault Wetherspoon’s on the station where we had a couple of pints of Winter Star (a dark winter ale) and Naked Ladies (a light hoppy ale) by the excellent Twickenham Fine Ales. Priced at £3.98 it was by far the cheapest beer all trip! A short, even more sparsely populated tube journey took us to Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo, our base for the trip.

We ventured out late afternoon and enjoyed a very lonely and quiet walk on the South Bank to meet an ex-colleague and his wife for an evening meal. We called in at the Mad Hatter Fuller’s pub at Southwark for some London Pride and then Blitzen dark ale by Black Sheep Brewery at Doggett’s Coat & Badge. There were excellent views across the river and a number of pop-up Christmas stalls and bars. We sampled one at Hay’s Galleria but it wasn’t cask – an unpronounceable IPA at over £7 a pint. An excellent meal at Côte Brasserie followed with some French bottled beer, which was very nice.

The next day we jumped on a tube for the Bank of England counter where I changed some old bank notes. The streets and shops were eerily quiet with many office staff clearly following working-from-home advice.

We called in at the Old Bank of England on Fleet Street, now a McMullen pub, for a pint of their Bootwarmer, a great festive ale.

Across the road down Essex Street, we went in a fantastic little pub called the Edgar Wallace a regular CAMRA award winner and sampled Bankside Blonde by Southwark Brewing Company. The pub featured an amazing array of drinking and smoking memorabilia on all the walls including brands such as Double Diamond, Babycham and Swan Vesta.

A quick pint of Wandle by Sambrook’s Brewery in the Nell of Old Drury followed before a visit to the Pie Room, a MasterChef-featured dining room in Holborn where we had a fantastic meal even though the pies alone were £22 each.

On the way to our evening visit to see the musical Mamma Mia! we stopped off in the Lowlander craft ale cafe on Drury Lane which served excellent Belgium beers in keg and bottles. We had the delightfully named La Chouffe and Kwak beers and then battled our way through a huge Covid booster queue to the Novello Theatre.

On leaving we visited a local Wetherspoon’s, the Shakespeare’s Head, for pints of Three Kings by East London Brewing Company and Mandarin by Windsor & Eton – both very quaffable. A quick look around the now much busier Covent Garden ended our evening and visit.

London is a fantastic place to visit and seek out some real ales and I’m sure we will be back in safer and hopefully busier times.