A monthly newsletter about London beer and pubs written by Will Hawkes

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A Gentle Orbit

Change is constant on the Walworth Road, although that’s hard to believe on a lethargic Wednesday morning. Red double-decker buses chug ever so slowly up South London’s central artery, as they always have, but around them things are moving on. The northern end is now home to a large Latin American community and towering blocks of modern flats; Walworth Town Hall, opposite the former Labour Party headquarters, is being converted into a ‘dynamic cultural community and workspace hub’; and, most earth-shakingly of all, Marks & Spencer closed in June, having served the road for 111 years. 

An idiosyncratic home, then, for Orbit, perhaps London’s most resolutely unchanging of modern breweries. This month marks Orbit’s 10th birthday, a time for celebration - of which more later - but also reflection. What does Orbit have to show for a decade of brewing? Fewer fireworks than at some of their contemporaries, no doubt, but arguably something else of greater value: a strong identity, one that ties traditional European brewing to a solid, unflashy commitment to keeping the show on the road, economically speaking.

At the heart of this is founder Robert Middleton, a Scotsman whose decision to open a brewery came after a road-trip around his native land’s breweries in 2013, inspired by Iain Banks’ whisky book, Raw Spirit. He intended to turn his own journey into a book, but instead returned to London having fallen in love with beer, and keen to start a brewery. 

Having spoken to other members of the London Brewers’ Alliance, and with the advice of former Twickenham head brewer Stuart Medcalf, he settled on an archway yards from the Walworth Road. “I knew nothing about Walworth,” Robert, who lives in Camden, says with a chuckle. “I barely knew Elephant or Camberwell. But I liked the idea that it was a little bit individual, and it worked well in practical terms. We’ve got a good yard, good access. We could just get on with setting up a brewery.”

Key to Orbit’s original vision was brewer Mario Canestrelli, who joined in May 2014 (Paul Spraget, once of Fourpure, is the current head brewer). Mario was (and presumably still is) passionate about traditional German brewing, a passion that rubbed off on Robert. The Orbit team - 13 including Robert - now takes annual beer trips to the Continent’s great beer cities, from Bamberg to Brussels. Robert himself is a regular visitor to Germany, and was in Munich last month to see Scotland play the hosts (over which we shall draw a tactful veil). 

The European city that means most to Orbit, though, is Cologne. The key brand is a Kolsch, Nico, and the brewery regularly hosts nights that celebrate the city’s idiosyncratic beer culture, complete with 200ml glasses of beer served at the table, and each beer drunk marked on the drinker’s beer mat. For those of us who love European beer culture, it’s great fun - but I wonder how much Orbit’s excellent flagship beer has managed to ‘move the dial’, so to speak, on drinkers’ understanding of German beer culture?

“I think some do [have a better understanding],” says Robert. “There’s been people who’ve come to appreciate Kolsch through what we do. That’s wonderful, but just as valid is a guy who drinks Stella who tries Nico once, and it’s an entry beer. My girlfriend only likes Nico, out of our beers. It’s a craft beer, but it’s accessible too.”

You can’t say fairer than that. It’s this sort of pragmatism that has kept Orbit on the straight and narrow at a time when many breweries are struggling, a pragmatism that (for all the brewery’s German focus) seems very Scottish. “I think [the fact that I’m] a formally trained professional actuary has helped!” Robert says. “There’s natural financial discipline, but when I came into this I wanted it to be for the long term. I want to be doing this 10 years from now, and 10 years on from then if I’m still around.”

Perhaps it’s this quiet solidity that ensures staff hang around longer than they might at other London breweries, from drayman Chris Newby (five years) to general manager Robbie Sykes (almost 10 years). 

This persistent, unflashy brewery may have found its moment, with a model that takes in gentle growth and a refusal to rely on any single account. Orbit makes around 5000 hectolitres a year, having grown by about 20 percent annually for the first six or seven years and more gradually since. It focuses on restaurants, cafes, hotels and craft-beer pubs (none of which make up more than 10 percent of production), and still packages in bottles, despite the rush to cans that has taken place over the past few years. 

Tomorrow, the brewery is open for the high point of its birthday celebrations, a party taking in BBQ and Orbit members on the decks (see Sarah Lazenby, head of sales & DJ, above). Next Friday it’s another Nico night, this time taking in Neu, the brewery’s Altbier that had been brought back from the dead for the occasion (Why did it go out of production? “People didn’t really know the style, and no-one could pronounce the name”). 

Kolsch and Alt together in the same place? It wouldn’t fly in Cologne, but down on the Walworth Road things are moving on. 

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Party Pub

When Chris French, landlord of The Mitre pub in Richmond, stood for election last week, the aim was presumably to garner plenty of attention and attract custom to his pub. On the first count, he seems to have been successful; on the latter, only time will tell. As for electoral success, that has proven rather more elusive: he finished sixth in Richmond Park, gaining 349 votes, although he did manage to beat the SDP. (It looks like a nice pub, fwiw).

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Bad Ticket

Cahoots Ticket Hall Boozer, a 1940s-themed pub, has opened in Soho. Sounds like a lotta fun but, alas, the 1940s theme doesn’t appear to extend to the beer selection, which is as bland as bland gets. 

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Beer Bus

For lazy so-and-sos, the Deserter crew (partially) behind the Shirkers Rest in New Cross sure do get a lot done. Their latest escapade is a collaboration with fellow SE London micropubs Green Goddess (Blackheath) and Rusty Bucket (Eltham) that will see an open-top vintage bus travel between the three pubs during the afternoon/evening of 20 July. Four stops at each are planned, with Stephen of Green Goddess fame driving and the Deserter duo Andy and Vince working as conductors. 

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‘Craft Beer’

The last week has taken me to Wembley (AC/DC, see below) and Lord’s and the news, I’m afraid, is not good. Camden Pale and Goose Island were as good as it got at the home of football, while at Lord’s ‘craft beer’ is apparently Brooklyn Pilsner, Shipyard IPA, Hobgoblin and, most intriguing of all, alcohol-free San Miguel. 

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In Dept

South-East London’s hippest neighbourhood has a new pub: The Lucky Anchor, on Deptford High Street. Last week it hosted a 10th birthday party for Hop, Burns and Black, and the reports are positive. Most pleasingly of all, it has two cask lines, which were dispensing Verdant and Deja this past week. Great news for SE London casketeers.

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Tavern Tales: The Biggest Pub in Britain

… is taking a break this week but will be back with a bang in August. A big bang!

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What the Dickens

Bohem, North London’s Czech brewery, has taken on a second pub, The Nicholas Nickelby in Finsbury Park. Expect Czech-style lagers (including Nicholas, a new 4.2 percent ABV black lager), Czech wines/spirits and London’s first ‘chladici vana’ (a cooler bath for glassware).

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Two Pubs, One City

De Hems & Albert’s Schloss, Soho

Where do you meet an old pal before going to see even older rockers AC/DC at Wembley? Earl’s Court, given its strong Aussie connections? The Scottish Stores in King’s Cross, given the original band were of Scottish stock (and so is aforementioned pal, Gordon)? Or somewhere like The Cheshire Cheese, which, like AC/DC, fell into a solid groove in about 1768 and has stuck with it ever since?

None of these, it turns out. You go to De Hems, Soho’s Dutch-ish pub, because it's recently been renovated and it’s really close to somewhere else you want to go (of which more later). 

At 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon it’s busy-ish, mostly with men in pre-Covid business wear: ill-fitting suits, no ties, a smattering of skinny-fit v-neck jumpers. Most of them will not see 45 again. There’s a big TV on in the corner - it’s showing the Tour de France, where Mark Cavendish is about to win a record 35th stage - and there are high tables (boo hiss) around the front section of the bar.

De Hems, which is owned by M&B, made a big fuss in February about its renovation, but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t guess. It’s quite ‘light touch’. The bar looks relatively new, with some snazzy tiling, but the floor is dark wood and the ceiling a sort of dried-blood colour that looks like it’s been there a while. There’s a lot of ageing beer memorabilia on the walls, and some Dutch stuff too, including a Holland football shirt in the corner. 

In terms of beer, it’s all big-brand stuff on draught, both the ubiquitous (Beavertown) and the Belgian (De Koninck, Lindeman), plus lots more interesting stuff in bottle. I blundered by going for De Koninck, Antwerp’s iconic brown beer. Not only is it eye-wateringly expensive (£9.05!) but it also tastes odd, like the beer has been sitting there for a while because no-one else is drinking it. But of course no-one else is drinking it: everyone drinks Beavertown now. It’s the law. 

There are good aspects. The main door is wide open, always nice on a sunny day in London. The staff are welcoming. There’s a pair of older gents nearby discussing wild times (“we ‘ad shedloads of beer”); at the next table, a man in a rugby shirt is drinking Westmalle. Three men in suits listen intently to what a young woman is telling them.

But who am I kidding? Given the competition around here, it’s very unlikely I’ll be back. 

What I’m really here for is just around the corner, on Shaftesbury Avenue, where the Rainforest Cafe used to reign. This huge site is now home to Albert’s Schloss, an arrival from Manchester promising plentiful lager, various Germanic and not-so Germanic food items (pretzels … fondue … boeuf bourguignon?!) and a 2am licence. It feels like another bit of good news for beer-drinkers in Soho.

Alas, it is not good news for me on this Wednesday evening. Maybe I missed it on the website - it wouldn’t be the first time - but it appears this Schloss is geschlossen to normal punters this evening, despite having been open since the weekend, as it’s closed for a party. I can only gaze into its cavernous Germanic interior, the taste of an unfiltered glass of Bitburger turning to ashes in my mouth. 

Happily, there’s another option nearby: the Devonshire, which you may have read about here, or on any and all of the other media outlets that exist in the known world. Yes, it’s been hyped, and yes, they do sell a lot of Guinness - but it is a nice pub. Ever the contrarian, I went for a (v good, sparkled) Landlord. 

The hype has had a downside. You're now not allowed to stand down one side of it (Denman Street), probably for some spurious noise/access reasons. The other side, though, is still packed with happy punters, including friend of London Beer City Phil Lowry, once a brewer at Brew Wharf in Borough (amongst many other things), now based in the US, working for a major hop company. He’s with Shaun O’Sullivan (amongst others), founder of 21st Amendment brewery in San Francisco.

We chat happily for 20 minutes, largely about the price of things in the US, before Gordon and I head off to Wembley, where we enjoy AC/DC (now basically the Angus Young show, since Brian Johnson’s voice is shot and the other three lads have departed, for various reasons), an excellent mixed grill at Taste of Lahore on Wembley High Road - and a few pints of pretty awful Goose Island-branded beer, on offer alongside Camden’s insipid Pale Ale at the ‘craft beer’ stand. It’s not quite as bad as the De Koninck, though. 

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London Beer City is written by journalist Will Hawkes. Feel free to contact me on londonbeercity@gmail.com. If you like what you’ve read, please share it with your friends; if you’ve been forwarded this email and enjoyed it, you can sign up here. Unsubscribe here.  Help me keep the newsletter free here. Thanks for reading!