I will have one day in London after a five day pub crawl in the Cotwalds (walking the Cotswolds way). Is Fullers worth the trip, or do I just continue hitting historical pubs in London for the day? Thanks for any suggestions.
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I would if I had the chance.
It depends on what you are after. I went there many years ago and at the time it was still an independent brewery and the tour and tasting were great. That said there are some just spectacular pubs that serve good cask beer.
Whitehorse Pub off of Parsons Green is a must stop. It is relatively close to Fullers so you can do both. Ye Ole Mitre near St Paul I believe is an old pub in an alley that is just fun to go to.
Plus there are non beer things you may want to do
Fullers is still worth a visit, but if you are traveling from the Cotswolds back to London, you might stop in Swindon to visit Arkells, which is still a family owned old 180 year old brewery. That is a special stop. https://www.arkells.com/
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Thank you for the reply and innovating my brew day. Arkell tour is on the day I leave, so Fullers it is. I have joined CAMRA and now have more cask ale pubs to visit than hours in the day.
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Ask those chumps why they quit exporting to the U.S. I miss their beer.
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it’s a real shame. i feel english beer of various types has completely dried up compared to 10 years ago. and im here in canada.
i didnt have the time to get to the fullers brewery while i was there a bit ago. sad.
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We did the tour twice before the sale to Asahi. Do it to see a real ale brewery. The walk along the Thames to Hammersmith. There are some good pubs on that walk, a favorite is the Dove.
I did the tour before Asahi, too, it was a great time. They’ve since closed the on-site pubs, which is a shame. I had an excellent lunch there after the tour. It was one building, but officially two pubs:
I see London Pride in bottles, Chumley, but I haven’t bought it in years. It was nothing like the cask version and just made me sad.
Yes, the lower gravity English bitters bottled and shipped across the pond do not age well, which is probably they stopped shipping them. The stronger ones do a bit better. ESB in the big bottles was pretty decent, but of course not as good as the draft version. The Fuller’s ales of yesteryear that I used to buy that were great in bottles were 1845 and Vintage Ale.
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I love the Vintage Ale, I have one last bottle squirreled away from the last time I was able to get it.
Thanks all for replying. I will be walking the Cotswold Way 5 days with CAMRA suggested pubs for lunch and the end of each day. Either stupidly and awesomely will have a room above a pub each night. London for a day will be Fullers and two old pubs. Maybe squeeze in a museum. Will report back end of October with results.
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