The Wild Swan in Fetter Street, London. The image features a stained glass depiction of a swan and bench seating
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social today, featuring all the usual pub and beer stuff - in particular Macintosh Ales, the Wild Swan & Deptford’s arty side. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
A random pint of ale that has nothing to do with the post
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social out today, in which I ask: is there a future for London-brewed beer? Featuring the brewery that sacked staff before Xmas, the brewery that went back to contract-brewing and - shock! - the brewery opening this year. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
A Guinness/St Patricks Day sticker on the window of the Blythe Hill Tavern in SE London
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social out this weekend. Featuring:
- what does ‘Irish pub’ mean in modern London?
- crunch-time for Ye Olde Swiss Cottage
- who is London’s top porter producer?
- trifle and darts in East Dulwich
Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
The bull outside the Black Bull pub in Hammersmith. It's about 200 years old and has an amazing pub-related story.
There's a new @londonbeercity.bsky.social out today, focusing on an amazing flat-roof pub in Hammersmith that may or may not be re-opening. It's got this bull outside. If that has wetted your appetite - and how could it not? - please sign up and I'll fire it over www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
Have I really been so carelessly provocative? 😲 There's only one way to find out. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
An image of the exterior of the new Guinness brewery/tourist attraction in Covent Garden, with a sign reading "Good Things Are Coming'
There is, incredibly, a new @londonbeercity.bsky.social tomorrow. It features Guinness' belated arrival in Covent Garden, London pubs owned by London breweries, the new venue for LCBF, The Lady magazine and lots more. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
Decoration on the wall at the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham, which reads "Follow the Firkin Trail and See the Breweries of Yesteryear"
Last month's @londonbeercity.bsky.social is now online, featuring the LBA beer festival, various comings and goings, & what remains of the Firkin chain. Peace out www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/10...
The magnificent interior of the Cadogan Arms, featuring lavish brown and green tiling, mirrors, cushioned bar stools, chandeliers and a moulded plaster ceiling. It's in the King's Road
There is a new @londonbeercity.bsky.social out today, featuring the King's Road and a pub called the Queen Charlotte. You can get it for free by signing up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
When someone calls a pub an institution, there are always detractors. But we can't think of a single person who wouldn't agree that The Dog & Bell is exactly that.
Will Hawkes joins us again for an insight into Deptford's most beloved pub.
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/9/...
I’ve written for @pelliclemag.com about the Dog and Bell, a unique pub whose evolution over the past 40 years nevertheless illustrates the story of modern London pubs. It’s here: www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/9/...
Stacey Ayeh, tenacious owner of Rock Leopard brewery, which is based in Thamesmead.
June, which includes information about both Thamesmead and Lord's. www.willhawkes.net/blog/june2025
The exterior of the White Horse in Parsons Green. The beer selection here has gone downhill of late, sad times
May, featuring a sickly Sloaney Pony. www.willhawkes.net/blog/may2025
Ceramic tiling at Ye Old Tiger's Head in Lee, SE London, featuring a tiger's head
And April. www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/10...
An interior shot of the Blythe Hill Tavern in SE23, featuring happy customers, various mirrors and horse-racing memorabilia
You'll be delighted to hear that I've finally got around to putting some back copies of @londonbeercity.bsky.social on my website. Here's March: www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/ma...
An old Firkin advert on the wall at the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham, reading ‘Follow the Firkin Trail and see the breweries of yesteryear’
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social today, featuring:
- The London Brewers Alliance festival at Bird House
- what’s it like being a small brewery in London today?
- V interesting pub reopenings, eg Florist in E2
- The original Firkin pubs, 46 years on!
Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
Front cover of today’s Telegraph Magazine, featuring a foaming pint of beer
Jodie Kidd’s intro, with my (slightly smaller 😂) effort below
A nice illustration accompanying the best in each county section. There’s a map of England with a selection of pubs picked out
One of the spreads, headed ‘legendary locals and historic haunts’
England’s 500 Best Pubs now exists in print form, courtesy of today’s Telegraph Magazine. It’s an edited version, chopped up into sections (best beer, most historic etc) and nicely illustrated.
The beauty of cask ale, my latest for the Telegraph. Featuring the Limeburners, one of the great rural Lancashire boozers: www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/409a9e8...
A perfect pint of Surrey Hill's Shere Drop at the Trafalgar Ale House in Wimbledon. It has a beautiful thick collar of foam - and because a sparkler wasn't used, it tastes good all the way down
There is a new @londonbeercity.bsky.social this week, featuring:
- The Trafalgar Ale House & the threat to London's pubs
- London's Czech beer problem
- 40ft's inexorable rise
- Temple Brewhouse goes underground
- Other stuff 🤷♀️
Sign up here to get it tomorrow: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
I've spent the past few months researching and writing (what I think is) the biggest pub guide ever published by a national newspaper (50,000 words!) - and today its been published! www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/best-...
Here’s a very European story. A London brewery, set up by Germans and Italians & making Franconian-style beer, is now selling lager back to the Germans - and everywhere else in Europe, too, if they get their way. How? Here’s how:
Brewers are fretting about tariffs on US hops - but after a few more years of Trump, will London drinkers want anything American?
A can of Heretic’s Make America Juicy Again
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social out today, featuring:
- Trump Juice: will Londoners lose their taste for American-style beer?
- Brew By Numbers & Brick in Yorkshire
- The licensing change that could revolutionise London pubs … & lots more
Sign up here, it’s free: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
Hackney Brewery is closing. They blame Waltham Forest council, who have made a CVA agreed 9 months ago ‘unworkable’. This follows the closure of their taproom three weeks ago
A view through a doorway at the Blythe Hill Tavern in SE London, showing people sitting at tables and drinking Guinness
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social coming at the end of this week. Featuring
- the brewery that conquered London by stealth
- Beamish is back
- pub news in TW1, SE18, SW11 & E17
- the first night of a new regime at SE London’s best pub 😮
Subscribe here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
This month's edition is coming up a week on Friday, so why not sign up now to ensure you don't miss any of the fun? Amazingly, it's free 😮 www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
New pubs, closed breweries, an absolute gobshite. All feature in last month's @londonbeercity.bsky.social, which is now online here: www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/3/...
Hope Stonegate don't radically change it, it's a wedge-shaped gem! Award-winning, listed, nationally important historic interior.
Last month's @londonbeercity.bsky.social is now available to read, if you like. You can also sign up (www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...) and get this month's edition delivered directly to your inbox. www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/2/...
People and a dog in the Blythe Hill Tavern
Decoration featuring golf, and a tv screen in the front room at the Blythe Hill Tavern
People watching football at the Blythe Hill Tavern
An exterior view of the Blythe Hill Tavern, looking in through the window
Con, landlord of the v popular Blythe Hill Tavern in SE London, is leaving at the end of the month after the best part of 40 years. It‘s a Stonegate pub, so there’s a risk it could change radically … which may explain why it was even more lively then normal this evening
A pint of mild and a Kent cricket bobble hat (both mine)
¡There's a new @londonbeercity.bsky.social out tomorrow! Featuring:
- New pubs that want to be old pubs
- A v cool Victorian discovery
- The Oz-based pilot who visited 50+ London pubs
- Boozing in Bermondsey
- Closed breweries, open pubs
Sign up for free here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...