Desert Island Pubs – Andreas Akerlund, co-owner, Grace Land Pub Group

Andreas Akerlund, co-owner, Grace Land Pub Group

1. Earliest Memory of a Pub

I moved to London in the 1980s when I was in my mid-teens. It was a different world back then. I can’t exactly remember my first pub but a stand-out from that time was the Sun Tavern in Barnes. Many Swedes live around there. My mates and I used to go around Covent Garden and Leicester Square before we found Soho. Pubs back then didn’t care as much to check to see how old you were and I remember being at The Salisbury on St Martin’s Lane with all the mirrors, dark woods and red ceilings as well as the smoke and rain from people’s coats hanging over the pub. I’m sure it used to have the bar dividers back then.

2. Most Inspirational Pub to my Career

New things inspire me daily but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what pushes you forward. Back when I opened my first bar, in 1994/5 it was more bars that inspired me. Frevd on Shaftesbury Avenue had already then been going for a while and I had pint-sized juicy cocktails like Zombies or Mai Tai. It’s still around today and looks the same. It’s an amazing feat for any place to keep going for that long. That’s something to aspire to.

3. My Current Local

I don’t live close by but I make an effort to get to the Coach & Horses on Greek Street every time I’m in Soho. I try to get in there a few times a week. The pub was different when Norman [Balon] looked after the place, he was as stern as the stories but he never made you feel unwelcome. A pub is only as good as the people who run it. Ali, who runs it now, has made the place far better than it has ever has been. Almost too good as it gets extremely busy at certain times. Fuller’s lets her put on some great beers and there are always some very good ones on – be it guest casks or keg.

4. My Favourite Pub

I’m still looking for the perfect pub. The Sutton Arms in Clerkenwell is one that gets close. Jack and his dad Mick live upstairs and are always around to serve the best casks. My latest favourite pub is the new place The Pocket in Highbury, run by Peter Holt who is from The Southampton Arms in Gospel Oak and Howling Hops Brewery. Peter is the best at creating an old pub feel in a new space and always has some of the greatest beer on. Only the other day I had a Marble Brewery Stout on cask and a sausage roll in there. Perfect.

5. The Pub you’d like to take to the Island

People make pubs great so an empty pub on an island wouldn’t be that much fun. I’ll have to bring all the people, both behind the bar and the drinkers. The Coach & Horses’s team behind the bar and The Sutton Arms team will do the cellar. It should look like Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, in the old City of London, have fresh cask ale and as we are on a desert island we also need food – ready salted crisps, Twiglets and Mini Cheddars.

6. The beer (unlimited supply) you’d take to the desert island

An almost impossible question. My desert island has to be somewhere cold so I can drink dark beers. Fuller’s ESB, Harvey’s Best and a German lager will do me fine. If the island is somewhere warm then I guess it has to be Corona too.

Glynn Davis, editor, Beer Insider

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