London Beer City

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-...

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-...

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-...

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-...

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...

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-...

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out — The Dog and Bell in Deptford, London — Pellicle On a Friday night in early December, Deptford’s Dog and Bell is Christmas as imagined by a Haribo-addled toddler.  A huge resin Santa, grinning merrily in his sleigh, squats in Prince Street out...

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/...

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out — The Dog and Bell in Deptford, London — Pellicle On a Friday night in early December, Deptford’s Dog and Bell is Christmas as imagined by a Haribo-addled toddler.  A huge resin Santa, grinning merrily in his sleigh, squats in Prince Street out...

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/...

June, which includes information about both Thamesmead and Lord's. www.willhawkes.net/blog/june2025

May, featuring a sickly Sloaney Pony. www.willhawkes.net/blog/may2025

And April. www.willhawkes.net/blog/2025/10...

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...

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-...

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.

Cask ale is one of Britain’s greatest inventions – and could be making a comeback Long prized by locals and rediscovered by a new generation, this time-honoured traditional tipple is full of character and flavour

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...

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-...

The 500 best pubs in England Use our tool to find the perfect pub nearest to you

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?

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

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-...

February: Pubs Go Back to Basics, Bermondsey Blues and Australia's Boldest Boozer — Will Hawkes What’s Old Is New Adrian Kinsella carefully extracts a series of nails attaching a sheet to a wall in Stoke Newington’s Coach and Horses. He then lifts the sheet, exposing the wall behind it - and, ...

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/...

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

¡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-...

Visited Stoke Newington’s Coach and Horses today for this week’s @londonbeercity.bsky.social. It’s currently being refurbished - they’ve found these 19th-century booze adverts hidden behind the panelling