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3rd February 2020

Guild member Des de Moor to release new ‘London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars’ in May

From Guild member Des de Moor:

London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars, the book that chronicled the seemingly unstoppable expansion of beer and brewing in the UK’s capital, will be back for a third edition on 21 May 2020, almost five years after the last edition in July 2015.

The book has been completely revised, with over 300 full entries, including all the breweries, plus hundreds more short ‘Try also’ listings. Compiling it involved visiting 767 places over 65 working days and travelling 3,306 km (2,054 miles), including 644 km (400 miles) on foot, the equivalent of walking from my flat in Deptford to Mugdock Country Park on the other side of Glasgow.

The first edition in 2011 chronicled a mere 13 breweries — up from nine following the closure of Young’s in 2006. The last edition had to accommodate an astonishing increase to 70. In the new one, you’ll read about 130, though unlike five years ago, the biggest ones are now owned by multinational companies. These and other trends on the London scene are examined in detail in the text.

We’re planning an extensive programme of events to launch the new edition, including a special collaboration beer. And I’m working on a Patreon scheme so I can keep things updated between print editions. More news about these over the next couple of months.

Meanwhile I’ve been updating the coverage of London breweries on my website. You’ll find a list of all the brewers currently operating in Greater London, and some historic information too, including year by year totals going back to 1971 and an increasing amount of information about closed breweries.

For further information, contact Des  on des@desdemoor.com