This pub or that pub?

You want to take in the London culture, therefore an immersion into the London pub scene is necessary.

You’ve endured a long flight, made it to the hotel, and finally you set out to find that perfect British pub. But now it’s decision-making time: this pub or that pub?

With approximately 6,000+ pubs in London, you are never very far away from one. Often there are 3 or more pubs within a 2 block radius, across the street from each other, even side by side as you see in the picture above.

Hopefully this article will provide you with a few more tips that can help you make a more educated decision…

Source credit for the technical and historical information you’re about to read below goes fully to Des de Moor and CAMRA.  Read The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer Pubs & Bars for a detailed description. You can also buy the book directly from the CAMRA website by clicking on this link. 

Pubs in the early to mid 1900s…

Production, distribution and retail were all in the same hands known as the “tied-house” system. By the early 1970’s, six large groups owned half of the country’s pubs.

Technical Terms: Tied Houses (Managed houses and Tenancies) vs. Free House

Managed houses – branches of the brewery, with licensees and staff on the brewery payroll

Tenancies – separate business, leasing pubs from breweries at a favorable rent but obliged to buy their beer from the owner, usually at a premium

Free Houses – operated by non-brewing interests and free to source beer on the open market

1989 Government Beer Orders

Regulations that were created to force brewers with large tied estates to release some of their pubs from the tie and allow others to stock a guest beer, introduce more variety and give consumers more choice in the beer products they drink while regulating the power that the big brewers had to influence the industry.

Unfortunately, a loophole was found. Pub owning companies began to emerge that struck the same favorable supply deals with brewers, but because the orders only applied to “brewers”, these pub owning companies were not subject to the beer order regulations. 

Understanding the Pub operation today

Breweries that Own Pubs

• Controlled by two major companies – Fuller’s and Young’s, which typically stock their owners’ cask ales alongside a guest beer

Pub Owning Companies

• Dominated by three groups – Enterprise, Mitchells & Butlers & Punch, though the names are not usually displayed on the pub premises
• What you may see are the brand names of these managed houses. Look out for Nicholson’s (see below picture), Castle, or Taylor Walker

Chains

• JD Wetherspoons – founded in 1979, Wetherspoons now owns over 850 managed pubs
• JD Wetherspoons is not affiliated with any brewery and therefore a “free house”

Source Credit for above section goes to CAMRA and Des de Moor. Click on link at the start of the post to buy the book! 

Okay, I’m even more confused.  How do I know which pub will be the best?

Well, that all depends on what you want…..

I want to go to a pub where I know I’ll get a variety of beer options from couple different UK Breweries…

• Look out for “Free House” on pub doors, signs or the building exterior
• Managed house pubs like Nicholson pubs or Taylor Walker pubs will also usually have a few different brewery options
• You may want to avoid a “Fullers” or “Youngs” pub  if you want a variety of breweries, as they’ll only stock their own beer and occasionally one other guest beer

I just want the cheapest British beer possible!

• The JD Wetherspoons chain serves the cheapest priced beers around
• There are rumors/stereotypes that this cheaply priced selection at Wetherspoon’s pubs also brings in a different type of clientele. I’ve been to a few locations around London, including the one pictured above, and have always found it to be pleasant with a wonderful selection of real ales and a very good value for money

I don’t care whether it’s one brewery or a couple breweries, I only want British Beer/Real Ale.

• Then go explore! You can’t usually go wrong and worst case, you have to leave and walk two blocks to the next nearest pub!

Do I think there are too many pubs? Maybe…but I don’t think it’s fair to blame personal drinking choices on the sole fact that pubs exist! I’ve observed regular instances of this when I’m out and about in London and do think that there is a binge drinking problem in London that will have to be addressed (I may write a future post about this so look out for one!)

However, on a more positive note, the writer Samuel Pepys described the pub as “the heart of England.” (Wikipedia), and I agree with him.

My perfect winter day in London is to sit by a fireplace in a cozy pub while I read a book or play scrabble with Jim. (Check out the Mayflower pub in Rotherhithe, one of my favorite traditional English pubs in my neighborhood.)

At its best, it is a place where families and friends meet to relax, read and catch up on the local news, and spend quality time with each other.