A selection of articles I’ve written for other publications.
A few years ago – perhaps even less than that – craft beer was something for the hobbyist beer geek. Then, quickly, more people started getting interested – and not just the East London hipsters we love to mock. A recent Mintel report shows that 13 million people – a quarter of all British adults
Find out moreNever has a gift been so compromised by the manner of its giving. There was delight in beer circles the other day when George Osborne announced not only the end of the hated alcohol duty escalator, but also a further penny cut in the duty of beer. And then Grant Shapps put out that tweet.
Find out moreIn my last column I talked about cider: a drink that most people think is made of apples, and showed often, it isn’t. It’s a familiar story in food and drink: if you want to make sure what you’re putting in your mouth is what you think it is, you’re better off going for smaller producers
Find out moreThere’s no easy way to humblebrag this so let me get it out of the way and move on: I just got back from Chicago, where I was flown and accommodated for a week mainly so I could drink cider. Well, it was one way to celebrate the end of Dry January.
Find out moreHow much is too much for a beer? £4 a pint? £5? How about £12 for a large bottle? If your answer to the above is anything other than “Well, it depends on the beer, doesn’t it?” then good news! Broader horizons and untold pleasures await you.
Find out moreEver since we’ve been able to make tools and use language, we’ve understood that the year is cyclical. Behaviour that’s acceptable at one time of year is considered wrong at another. Throughout the history of civilisation – any civilisation – we keep a lid on some of our desires and urges so that we can
Find out more“One day I’d like to retire and run a pub.” It’s a dream many of us have. Ditching the grind of the nine to five – or eight to eight for most LondonlovesBusiness.com readers – in favour of standing behind the bar, master of all you survey, polishing the brass while waiting for the regulars
Find out moreWe’ve all propped up the bar of a pub somewhere in London that has a magnificent stone eagle perching above the door outside, or has the words ‘Truman, Hanbury & Buxton’ running under the eaves. Or we’ve looked at that magnificent chimney looming over the building still known as the Old Truman Brewery on Brick
Find out moreOnly a heartless moron could hate the London pub. Pubs in London are grittier than the undeniably charming and cosy thatched roof country pub. They possess a faded glamour and an ‘I’ve still got it’ bravado that’s missing from other boozers in other town centres. Despite the inevitable creep of faceless chains run by people
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