Desert Island Pubs – Dom Jacobs, founder & MD, Ardent Pub Group

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…

Dom Jacobs, founder & MD, Ardent Pub Group

1. Earliest Memory of a Pub

I grew up in Suffolk, and there was a pub in a small village near us called The Bull in Thorpe Morieux (now sadly closed). During the summers my family and other family friends would use an incredible outdoor pool in a small village called Brettenham. We would always stop off at this pub on the way home. It had a great beer garden, a pool table, and those warm Sahara nuts on the bar. I loved it.

2. Most Inspirational Pub to my Career

The year before I opened my first pub, the late, great restaurateur Russell Norman opened a pub called The Ape & Bird. He was the first person I could see trying to reinvigorate the ‘gastropub’ format for quite a while. Although it didn’t ultimately succeed, and ended up turning into a Polpo, I was really buoyed by his approach at the time. It was also my grandad’s old drinking spot, so it was great to see him reimagine it in the way he did.

3. My Current Local

I live in Richmond so we often go to The White Hart or The White Swan down by the river. That said, it’s hard to ignore The Watermans Arms down the road in Barnes, which my wife and I love for lunches. Joe and the team have done a great job there.

4. My Favourite Pub

I tend to use pubs mainly for drinks rather than dining, and in that respect I love The Nags Head in Belgravia. I love going there in winter and it is just everything you want from a boozer.

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

I’m assuming there’s going to be plentiful amounts of fish to cook, so I’ll choose my favourite coastal pub: The Millbrook Inn on the Salcombe Estuary. You have to get to it by boat if you’re staying in Salcombe, and you also have to be very careful not to miss the tide going out otherwise you have to stay until it comes back in. I’ve had a few near misses! That said, it would be no terrible disaster if you had to spend another eight hours there, I’m just not sure whether you could drive a boat afterwards though.

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

I think it’s very hard to beat Augustiner Helles from Munich. Those monks know what they’re doing, and they haven’t dropped the ABV like so many other lagers in the UK, so it still has a proper flavour profile.

Glynn Davis, editor, Beer Insider

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