Posts by Glynn Davis
Mooring up at Sin Bin
With views over Chatham Maritime Marina and boats aplenty it proved to be an idyllic setting to enjoy a late afternoon drink in the spring sunshine at Shepherd Neame’s new Sin Bin bar. But the backdrop is not the main draw for customers at this new Kentish venue because the former Pier Five Bar and…
Read MoreNo small beer
When the story of the sale of independent brewer Innis & Gunn in a pre-pack administration to C&C Group landed in my in-tray recently, it was a surprise to say the least. It came while the drinks industry was still very much digesting the sale of BrewDog to US-based Tilray. In reality, I had long…
Read MoreTaps Flashback – 28 April 2017
This is the first in an irregular column that rewinds the clock back some years to see what was on the taps at certain pubs. Too many of these will no doubt be from my local, The Great Northern Railway Tavern (GNRT), in North London that has been a tremendous pub over the years for…
Read MoreThe future of festivals
The Mall Tavern pub sits at a busy junction in Notting Hill, and on a Friday evening in late February, it had a queue of drinkers around the building waiting for the doors to reopen at 5pm for the pub’s annual two-day Liquid Dreams beer festival. Each member of the queue was personally welcomed into…
Read MoreMr Turner’s Bar opens in The Porterhouse
The Porterhouse pub in central London has launched the ‘Mr Turner’s Bar’ in partnership with The Covent Gardener magazine to celebrate the site being the birthplace of artist JMW Turner. The new bar sits within The Porterhouse building that reached its 25th Anniversary recently and still looks as impressive as when I first visited the…
Read MoreDesert Island Pubs – Ben Stackhouse, founder of PubLove
Beer Insider is pleased to bring you the latest Desert Island Pubs column, supported by Sunrise Beverages. So settle in and enjoy reading the stories behind the selection of pubs from… Ben Stackhouse, founder, PubLove 1. Earliest Memory of a Pub My family owned a pub when I was born, The Nags Head in Northend, but…
Read MoreWelcome return of the Hoop & Grapes
When working in the City of London in the 1990s I’d often visit the Hoop & Grapes on Farringdon Street that sat among various tall office blocks. When these buildings were all demolished in 2019 its doors closed and it stood precariously alone. Now it has been joined by an array of brand new tower…
Read MoreEvery day is a beer festival at The Mall Tavern
For beer fans a visit to The Mall Tavern in Notting Hill is always an enjoyable experience because this neighbourhood pub is run by husband-and-wife team Nati and Andy Perritt who are both passionate about the beers they serve. So much so in fact that they went free-of-tie after paying Stonegate a hefty sun. For this…
Read MoreThe changing face of wine bars
Yes, I admit this is not about beer or pubs but is about wine bars. It is also an interesting story about how the venues we drink in constantly evolve – whether that is pubs or wine bars. For many people, wine bars still no doubt conjure up images of candle-lit basements with wooden wine…
Read MoreSigning in again at Signature Brew
My first visit to the brewery of Signature Brew was accidental. I had cycled up to see the owner of a butcher’s business called Muddy Boots on an industrial estate near Walthamstow and on arrival spotted Signature in the unit pretty much next door. I briefly chatted to the founders Sam McGregor and Tom Bott…
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