A Week in England, What to do?

I studied with a guy in Bamberg who now does historic preservation work in London. He took me to a bunch of unspoiled pubs when I visited and it was super cool. But it required some longer distance tube trips and walks as the truly historic ones are few and far between. happy to suggest a few if you think this sounds interesting.

 

Edinburgh and/or Wales are the other 2 areas I've drunk beer most in over there...but kinda far om such a tight schedule.

 

If you are a Beatles super fan, Liverpool is great, if not, there's not much to see/do.

We spent 3 nights where the Scouser's call home w/ two "tour guides", (fellow cops I met in Bosnia) & had a great time. It was pretty much a 3 day drunken debacle w/o much sightseeing.

The Beatles museum and Cavern bar were awesome, plus Beatle boyhood homes & Strawberry Field were fun to see. Outside of that, Liverpool has little to offer.

For beer adventures, I would suggest Leeds & Tadcaster.

Enjoy your trip!!

 

if you can swing it, make a base in highgate/hampstead. it's a ritzy area in many ways, but truly has some of the best unspoiled pubs. some favorites included the 2 locations of the flask (esp the highgate one near the graveyard where karl marx is buried); the holly bush in hampstead; the spaniards inn (on the road between hampstead and highgate). there are some good ones throughout the city, too, of course. will have to hit up my friend for some of the names and some possible updates. this was years ago that we made the rounds...but it sure was fun.

 

Got to spend at least one night in a combination local pub/B&B. As a guest, you can drink past last call (well, the two local women we were sitting with explained to us that it was kinda expected that we would. Ah, who were we to break tradition?).

And get a copy of CAMRA's 2021 Good Beer Guide now, to help with planning.

 

Weedy,

In the past I went to London a lot for business. It was my love of cask Bitter Ale that motivated me to homebrew, my first homebrew batch was an English Bitter Ale. Needless to say but there is lots to see/do in London beyond pub drinking (which is a must!) but one visit I would strongly recommend is the British Museum. How the Brits brought back all of those huge stone artifacts during their Empire days is a marvel.

I too have been thinking about going back for a two week vacation. Two areas of interest beyond London for me:

· Lake District National Park for some sightseeing and hiking

· West Yorkshire to take a pub crawl through Leeds

Here is a book about a Leeds pub crawl:

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Leeds-Pub-Crawl/dp/178091234X

Hopefully some of the British BAs will chime in.

Cheers!

Jack

P.S. I was in Edinburgh for a one week business trip. It is a pretty city and worthy of a visit but with your London stay maybe balance out your trip with a non-city aspect? Also, bring lots of money for your London (and other) stay.

 

Because of the pandemic I had to cancel a London visit last year. I'll be following this thread for advice for re-planning and travel next year. Let's hear all suggestions.

 

Consider renting a car, nothing beats the good old road trip. Manchester has the best beer scene besides London, some even say Manchester is ahead. From sightseeing point consider York.

If you're into classic pubs buy Britain's Best Real Heritage Pubs or check out CAMRA web page. I did a heritage pub road trip London - Nottingham - Derby - Birmingham - Bristol - Cardiff - London in late 2019.

This is my map
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1IA0zXCiXENUIfudb29lFq2KsQXIaW56g&usp=sharing

If you decide to visit some of the areas on the map I can give you the specific recommendations.

 

1 week, including London, is a very short time. Do not even think of renting a car - the traffic is heavy, it is nearly impossible or very expensive to park in Central London, people drive on the "wrong" side of the road, and you are supposed to be less than sober most of the time anyway. Take the train to where you want to go outside London, but don't spend too much of your valuable pub time on the train. Some smaller towns south of London might be a good idea - what about Canterbury? The Cotswolds are pretty, with quaint villages. A fast train will also help you travel a longer distance within reasonable time for a nice & beery destination, even as far as York or Sheffield. Other nice cities are Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich, Bath, Derby and Nottingham. Train tickets are much cheaper if you buy tickets well in advance, and for a specific train, avoiding rush hours.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't drive into London, we usually rent a car at the airports. As for driving on the wrong side it does take some time to adjust, but we're talking about half an hour to hour.
Bath is very nice and has some good historical pubs. Cotswolds is great, not sure how to visit without the car though. Oxford and Cambridge are both beautiful and easy reachable from London. Cambridge might be a bit better beer wise.

Also if you're visiting Liverpool or Manchester they are under an hour train ride one from each other. Trains really are a good way to move around. Car gives you an option to check out some remote historical pubs, breweries and scenery and villages can be beautiful.

 

Make that "lots and lots of money"!

 

I have a bit of recent experience with England from conferences, plus I studied for a post-grad degree there about 20 years ago.

London
My personal favorite pubs: Euston Tap (right by the Euston/St. Pancras/King’s Cross train stations, a converted part of the old station I think or an old guard post...); Southhampton Arms (a freehouse that only serves independent breweries, a bit north of town, near Hampstead Heath); The Blackfriar (another freehouse with very cool interior); Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (Samuel Smith’s bound, but very old subterranean cave-like system of rooms... a bit touristy though).

In London you also have the Bermondsey Beer Mile which is a series of breweries, taprooms and pubs all in the same area, including The Kernel. I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard great things about it and done Manchester’s version (see below).

Manchester
A very underrated beer town. Favorite pub is the Port Street Beer House. A great tap list with very knowledgeable staff. There are a few other really nice pubs with great beer lists and staff, but they aren’t really historical or interesting aside from the beer.

The Brewer’s Mile is Manchester’s version of the Bermondsey. It is less well-developed, but it has Cloudwater, Track, and Alphabet breweries. All very good. But the experience was the best part, a lot of random people wandering from taproom to taproom, sampling half pints, bumping into each other again, and talking beer. And at least when I was there 5 years ago, some of the breweries were small enough that the brewing staff were actually manning the taps, so you could actually talk process with them. That was fun for me as a very amateur homebrewer, but maybe that is too much like work for you?

Nottingham
Not perhaps the best beer town in England, but I studied there, so I have a soft spot for it. My favorite pubs: Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (supposedly the oldest pub in England, lots of cave rooms and history… but a bit touristy because of this); The Victoria Inn (freehouse in an old renovated hotel right next to the train station in nearby Beeston, quiet and quaint).

I can also second the suggestion of Oxford and Cambridge. Both towns have a number of historic pubs and are generally interesting towns.

 

I've never been to The Royal Oak in London, but if I ever make it to London again and I don't visit that pub for their Harvey's cask ale, I'd have to be dragged away kicking and screaming.

 

I have not personally had the pleasure of visiting the White Horse Pub in London but I have read a number of articles/blogs which have nice things to say about it. Hopefully some BA has visited this pub and provide further input.

Cheers!

 

few more my buddy reminded me of that we visited: hand & shears (city of l); kings head (sw l); princess louise (holborn)

 

How important is London to you? For beer, it punches below its weight and it is extremely expensive in general. As a visitor you’ll get twice as much for your money elsewhere in the country.

You can get to Burton-on-Trent from London in less than two hours on the train. There are a few cute pubs and the National Brewery Museum, but its glory days are in the past.

If you do go to Liverpool, you have Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield nearby – all very good beer cities, as well as a host of smaller towns. You will find good beer all over England these days, but you still have to look in the right places.

 

London punches below its weight .... Eh?

That based on one visit 6 or more years back or London just not your thing ... plenty of London haters out there I do realise?

The London beer scene has constantly evolved and at a fairly rapid pace since the early / mid 2010's ... what it arrived at pre Covid was quite simply a world class scene.

Dozens of multi tap bars and taprooms from renowned brewers such as Kernel, Cloudwater, Mikkeller, Other Half mooted to join the roster soon (unless Covid has dampened that project) as well as many other lesser known London brewers.

But punching below it's weight ... are you mad Bro?

 

I love London, fantastic city.

I would suggest London as a base and then maybe one or two day trips via train to spots like Bath or Greenwich. You don't want to waste time packing and moving for a one weak stay.

London beer scene is great (traditional pubs, new style beer bars and crafter breweries), plus the museums (Albert & Victoria and the Imperial War museum two personal favorites), shopping, etc. You will not get bored.

p.s. if you like wine at all, reserve an early afternoon and go to Gordons Wine bar. Fantastic place right on the Victoria Embankment and near a couple of tube stops.

https://www.gordonswinebar.com/