Help for first time London visitor

Sunday I'd recommend the Craft Beer Co. Covent Garden for beer - London, UK on cask and keg, and a few foreigners on keg (also bottles for takeaway). When I was last there they did have Kernel on Tap, also a few Sirens. They do decent burgers too. You're just in time for the Celtic art exhibition at the British Museum too.

There's also Royal Mile Whiskies nearby which normally has a nice selection of Scottish bottles - look out for Pilot, Cromarty, Fyne, Tempest, Fallen in particular (those are my favourites at least).

This thread may also be of help, though it is a little out of date. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-london-guide-summer-2014-update.200464/

 

I'd say @CwrwAmByth has sound advice. That thread is still pretty solid (Kernel is now bottle takeaway only). I've had Kernel on tap at the Harp in Covent Garden as well, but it will be hit/miss. I've been meaning to get down to Cask Pub & Kitchen, which is a little closer to where you are staying and has a good reviews and a good cask and craft selection, but can't personally endorse.

 

I haven't been to the Cask for a few years but I loved it. Great range and quality when I was last there (I think autumn 2013/14)

 

Slower than say, July or August, but it's normally very busy in the Tower and the BM. Luckily as they're quite large it's not normally bad enough to detract from the experience.

 

If you're going to be at the Tower and are up for a bit of a walk, I'd suggest crossing tower bridge and checking out Dean Swift (http://thedeanswift.com/) and/or walking over to Borough Market to graze in the food stalls & shops then drinks at The Rake (http://www.utobeer.co.uk/the-rake/).

 

I went to both again over the Xmas holidays since we had visitors in town. Very busy, but they are must-dos. I expect it will be significantly quieter on 16-17 Jan than over the holidays. If you want the least-busy experience, go first thing in the morning when they open. However, depending on your beer drinking the night before, that may be difficult.
Food-wise, I'd just use your phone apps to find the best nearby place when you get hungry. I assume you want to maximize sightseeing time and not travel 30+ minutes to find a specific restaurant or leave a museum you are enjoying to make a reservation etc. If you are a foodie, then disregard, but then I wouldn't rely on our advice necessarily. Also, you may have heard the weather is occasionally crappy here, so you may not be able to walk all over the place.

 

From the stand point of an occasional visitor to London, while it may not have the best selection of beer or food, consider a visit to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. It can deepen your sense of history and continuity. During dinner there one evening with some good friends I heard the head waiter say to one of the servers bringing our food, "That goes to the gentleman in Dr. Johnson's seat." Turned out that was me.

Also, a bit of time looking at maps can repay. The network of tube stops gives close walking access to many destinations but there are times/places where a short walk or bus ride above ground is faster for your purposes.

Finally, IIRC, from Victoria you can get on one of those tourist busses that follow a set route around the city with narration about what you are seeing. If you've the time, this can be a great way to get yourself oriented to where things are relative to each other and even discover things you'd like to see/do during this visit and on your next trip.

Enjoy!

 

Small but good beer list (Draft & Cask) and awesome casual food; gets pretty busy in the evenings though: https://www.stjohngroup.uk.com/smithfield/menu/bar_menu/

http://thegrazinggoat.co.uk/ was pretty good too

 

Firstly, I hope you have an amazing trip.

Agree with all of the recommendations above. I would definitely check out The Harp, any of the Craft Beer Co.establishments, the Princess Louise in Holborn is a beautiful boozer, classic old gin palace. Last but not least is my latest favourite, The Draft House at Tower Bridge, unpasteurised unfiltered Pilsner Urquell straight from the tank, great for a restorative pint after the tower.

Enjoy.

 

The Draft House looks awesome, great recommendation!

 

It's bloomin' marvellous. The PU is amazing, dangerously drinkable.

 

Re Bermondsey Mile ...

Skip Kernel. It was my number one stop when you could drink in but just to buy bottles I wouldn't be dedicating the time for this. Sure ... it likely has the biggest choice of Kernel bottles under one roof for sale (maybe 10 - 12) but almost all good bottle shops in town and the Oddbins Off licence chain all stock Kernel and typically half a dozen or so different ones. The only thing you would likely pick up at the brewery that would be harder to source elsewhere would be a BA imperial stout or one of the flavoured London Sours (Berlinner Weisse).

I would definately make BBNo my first choice on the beer mile. Solid beers, expect 7 or 8 on tap plus more to go. BBNO to Partizan is a 10 - 15 minutes walk then a further 10 minute walk to Fourpure. As you are here on a tourist gig more than a beercation I would probably skip these two due to the distance involved. Again ... you can pick up their products in good bottle shops ... Fourpure have even made it into Marks and Spencers, one of our large supermarket chains!

So staying at the BBNo end of the beer mile ... heading back towards the river you also have ...

U-Brew (directly behind BBNo). One of the more recent openings (maybe a year). Small taproom, bottles to go, a place where folks can brew there own beer, they also sell their own offerings.

The Bottle Shop. 4 taps downstairs, 8 upstairs (they have a meet the brewer event a few times a month). Also 300 or so bottles to drink on or off premises.

Anspach & Hobday taproom (right next to the Bottle Shop).. Decent enough beers. Maybe 6 on tap, possibly a cask, and the same amount to go.

Southwark Brewing. Taproom. 3 or 4 minutes up the same road as A&H/Bottle Shop. Traditional English offerings on cask. Not been a big fan of their beers but their recent cask IPA was pretty good.

If you are looking for a steer on the best 3 from my POV ... BBNo @#1, then either/and Bottle shop and A&H (in neighbouring units).

 

Just to be clear, the Pilsner Urquell available in tanks (which are available all around London) is not the unfiltered, unpasteurised PU. It is unpasteurised, and it is delicious - but it's not the unf/unp, which is much less common. The unf/unp is usually only available in London during the 'wooden barrel' events.

 

Sorry I didn't see this thread sooner. I live in London and actually work in Victoria, so I can give you some recs.

Cask Pub & Kitchen is excellent.

There is some good low-brow food in Pimlico/Victoria. Check out a place called Spicy Food Plus, and get the chicken tikka on naan. Add some of the spicy sauce if you enjoy a bit of heat. The place doesn't look like much, and the guy usually manning the counter isn't much of a talker, but the food is good.

Also, there's a place called Cyprus Mangal, and for my money they make the best falafel wrap in London. It might look like a sit-down restaurant, but right at the entrance, you can order food for takeaway (if you want).

Any Craft Beer Co - good picks.

I wouldn't bother with any of the pubs in Burough Market.

Re Bermondsey...for one thing, if you happen to talk to any of the brewers, don't refer to it as 'the mile' or 'the beer mile' or anything like that. The brewers hate it. (I used to help out at one of the breweries down there.)

If you aren't going to arrive in Bermondsey until the afternoon, then be prepared to deal with some crowds. When I go to Bermondsey, I try to be out of there by noon/1pm, because after that, service is sometimes extremely slow, there's nowhere to sit, staff is too busy to chat, people are getting drunk...I love Bermondsey and have been going down there almost every other week for the last five+ years, but the experience has changed dramatically.

All that said, BBNo has a nice taproom, as does A&H (although it's small). The Partizan 'taproom' is the least accommodating. Their seating is all outside, so you are at the mercy of the weather. Fourpure actually has the best brewery taproom in Bermondsey (OK, they are in South Bermondsey), and actually one of the best in London. But they are quite out of the way. Do not go to Southwark. With the exception of one of their recent beers, which was OK, their output has been at best mediocre, and some plainly offensive. It's a shame, because it would be great to have a cask producer in Bermondsey, but so far Southwark have shown themselves to be woefully inept.

The Bottle Shop Taproom is really nice. Lots of draft options, great bottle selection. Quite a bit of seating. I would check it out. UBREW sometimes has a nice selection on tap, sometimes not. In the interest of your time, I would give it a pass.

Since you are coming from NYC, I don't think you will be offput by crowds at the sites you plan to visit. I used to live in NYC, and think that, in general, London is much less crowded (except for Oxford Street and some parts in the very central area - Soho, Leicester Square, etc.).

I'll try to think of some more stuff.

 

Royal Mile Whiskies - I actually popped in there last weekend for the first time in a long time. I can confirm that they still have a great range of Scottish beers, in addition to some nice London beers as well.

 

That's a real shame about the beer mile. I've never got round to it as I mostly work Saturdays in my jobs but it always seemed like a nice idea for a beer experience.