Bermondsey Beer Mile | A Highly Convenient Craft Crawl
For the uninitiated/sober, the Bermondsey Beer Mile is pretty much what it sounds like: a mile’s worth of beer in the form of breweries, taprooms & bottle shops. In Bermondsey.
You’ll find it along the stretch of railway arches on Druid Street that run underneath the train lines spearing into London Bridge station. There’s no central organisation behind it – railway arches just happen to make ideal spaces for micro-breweries and bottle-shops. But, like a beautiful alignment of the planets, pretty much all of them happen to be open at roughly the same time each Saturday (around 11-5pm) making a natural stretch of pint-palaces that’s just BEGGING to be crawled.
So, where to begin?
Remember the part where we said that Bermondsey Beer Mile is very much an unofficial affair? Well, that means there are no rules. For the sake of ease however, it probably makes sense that you start at the top somewhere and work your way to the bottom and today our top is in the north, moving through to the south.
Here are all the venues you’ll hit as you wander down:
Bermondsey Beer Mile Venues
1. Southwark Brewing – your first stop, and the maker of ‘Bermondsey Best’ English ale.
2. Kanpai – surprise! This archway brews sake, not beer. It’s London’s only producer and well worth stopping off for some of their tank-fresh namazake.
3. The Barrel Project – a London Beer Factory spin-off, the focus here is on, that’s right, barrels. Oak ones. There are 200+ beers ageing in them, and 24 taps pouring ’em.
4. These Days – another surprise! It’s an aperitivo bar hiding out amongst the beer outlets. Stop here for bottled Italian spritzes and snacks.
5. Hawkes Cider – Brewdog’s cider outlet, Hawkes has some truly inventive & well-crafted apple ales. Try the ‘Elephants On Ice’ spiced cider. On the way to your next stop, you’ll also pass St. John’s Bakery – grab one of London’s finest doughnuts if they’re open.
6. Hiver/All Good Beer – Hiver make honey beer, and it’s genuinely delicious.
Hiver | stop number five on your Bermondsey Beer Mile crawl
7. Anspach & Hobday – these craft brewers make some old school stuff (cream ale, porter, table beer, etc.) and very new school stuff (guava sour, West Coast DIPA, etc.).
8. Moor Beer – these guys make all natural, live yeast, vegan friendly beers. That live yeast makes it more like natural wine, and very interesting.
9. Gosnell’s – the country’s first and only mead bar, serving the world’s oldest form of alcohol in eight glorious draught options.
10. Cloudwater – these Manchester-based brewers make some intriguing beers wrapped in psychedelic cans. Expect 10% ABV triple IPAs and double dry hopped pale ales.
A map of Bermondsey Beer Mile courtesy of Google Maps
11. Bianca Road – inspired by a cycling trip across the US, these guys brew West Coast inspired beers, like their TropiCali IPAs.
12. The Kernel – one of the Bermondsey Beer Mile OGs, they’re constantly making new varietals, and they’re consistently excellent.
13. EeBria – this bottleshop has beers from virtually every decent brewer in the country. And they have shuffleboard.
14. Fourpure – the taproom here is really impressive, and has a mighty 43 draughts at any one time. And there are hotdogs. Which by this point in the mile, you NEED.
Fourpure | Last stop on the Bermondsey Beer Mile
Opening Times
All of the venues along the Bermondsey Beer Mile are open from around 11am to 5pm each Saturday.
And Is There Anywhere To Eat Nearby?
Sure is. If you’re looking for something to soak up the suds, you’re merely a hop, skip, and a jump away from Maltby Street Market, which is open from 10am to 5pm on a Saturday. Here you’ll find all sorts of street food – everything from rainbow arepas to thick-cut sausage sarnies.
It’s like it was meant to be…
NOTE: The Bermondsey Beer Mile is unofficial, but some kind soul has made a list of most of the venues right HERE. All the listed breweries and bottle-shops are open from roughly 11am to 5pm every Saturday, so if you want you could simply wing it quite easily.
The Bermondsey Beer Mile | Across Bermondsey
Want to go further than a mile? Check out all these great London breweries