This summer en route to Berlin, I have a SIX HOUR layover at Heathrow.
Not sure of current security, but I think I can skip out of the airport, hit the underground, enjoy a couple pints, and make my connection.
Three options to use this time enjoyably:
a) Airport pubs - can’t find current beer menus, but looks like Fuller’s LP and Adnams have been on hand pulls there in the past. Which pubs are best?
b) Find a classic traditional English pub (w/ Adnams a bonus) not too far from a tube stop direct from Heathrow. This would be awesome - but which ones? Could easily waste precious time on the search…
c) Hit this CAMRA beer fest, which just happens to be opening up 30 min before my plane lands. That would be cool - but it seems to feature some of the more nontraditional, nonmajor choices of England - whereas I wouldn’t mind simply enjoying Fuller’s ESB and Adnams and any other classics, for the taste bud resetting.
You will have to look around for a Berliner Weisse, it was mainly Pils when I was there.
In London look into the walk along the Thames between the Fullers Brewery tap in Chiswick and and the Dove in Hammersmith. Several other decent pub on the river.
Yes, that was my experience four years ago too - just as easy to find a glass of Kölsch (and even hefeweizen if I remember right) thanks to the Ständige Vertretung…
but a weak mind getting weaker due to imbibing and jet lag can not be trusted…
thanks for the tip Jeff - am sorely tempted to go whole hog and hit those places.
And the AABG. Gotta join that when I get back this fall. Nice to have a true LHBS now…
Find a current copy of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and locate a recommended real ale pub near the airport. It lists the type of pub, what sort of beer they have and it is updated annually. My wife and I have used it on extensive trips through Great Britain and find it very accurate.
Go local. The tube to London takes over an hour. The Heathrow Express to Paddington take 15 mins, and runs every 15 mins, but costs over $50. Try this link for starters.
The London transport site says 47 min to Picadilly and 56 to King’s X by tube, and 25 min to Paddington by Heathrow Connect for just 8.5 pounds, so parts of London seem doable if I know where I’m going, and if security goes ok, and if those stats can be trusted. Big ifs, at the moment.
Good link Ross, thanks I hadn’t seen that one yet. Lots of good info for beer-drinking travelers there. I had read opiniated reviews elsewhere for some of the pubs listed near Heathrow (“beer by evening” or something like that).
6 hours is a bit of a stretch to race into London for a few pints and make it back. This is Olympic summer and things will be running more towards capacity even outside of the Olympics. You never know if the tube will be closed for maintenance or if you will need to find a secondary plan. I say keep it easy because one thing that can happen in London (or any major city) is the unexpected. Also, Heathrow customs is running up to an hour and a half just to get through the process so you probably should knock 1.5 hours off your schedule (check BBC).
Just my two cents but I have lived here for 6 years now and the run up to the Olympics is affecting a lot of things.
If it is that big of check to get on your to to list then keep it nearby. There is always some type of real ale pub nearby.
Play it safe and stay in the airport. You’re gonna be exhausted and the possibility of missing your flight are too great. You may have one beer too many and not be allowed on the plane. That could also happen in the airport but in the airport you aren’t rushed and can sip a couple of nice beers instead of looking at the clock and trying to finish “just one more” in time to get back to the airport.
+1
I have been there a couple of times and getting through security was hit and miss, play it safe. Maybe you could see about staying the night there and flying out the next day I would suggest if you have the chance to check out the city take it. I loved it there.
Well, that’s better than nothing, and at least maybe I can get a grand tour of the terminal pubs and update this thread w/ info.
Thanks for all the voices of reason. I haven’t been in London for 15 years, before I started home brewing, and before I became quite enamored with Fuller’s ESB and others, so it is so tempting to push the limits.
I’ll keep doing some research, but with the thought that a quick escape is possible only with an early arrival and smooth security. I agree, I’ll be wrecked from the flight. I see that Heathrow is going through a bit of public commotion regarding security delays and the impending olympic crush.
Good Beer Guide says to try Barley Mow in Shepperton, rated CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011 (Local) - address is 67 Watersplash Road, Shpperton TW17 0EE, phone is 019 322 253 26
Thanks Phillamb - great reference! I could go there for the experience, and get back to Heathrow in time for some of the big name ales.
I’d buy that book - but for what may be one pint or two if I’m lucky, it seems kinda pointless. Maybe in a couple years when my kid is older, I can make a propah trip to the UK.
We were JET. LAGGED. when we came in to France for the very first time, via Heathrow, but we (even at 8am!) stopped in to have a Full English at one of the pub/restaurants in terminal 5. The barkeep was nice enough to pour me what I believe was a fullers on hand pump. The food was good, the beer was cheap, and it was a great way to wake up.
The only problem after that, though, was that the waiting area for our AF connection was in terminal 0.0002 (is joke!), which had NO bathrooms… So that was a looooong wait.
Do you have a smartphone? There’s both an iphone and Android version of the Good Beer Guide for something like 6 bucks. No need to haul the heavy book around.
The day has come and gone. A pub in terminal 5 (Wetherspoon’s Crown Rivers, I think) has rotating hand pull selections and I got lucky: London pride, Fuller’s ESB, and Adnam’s all there! Three of the four I had wanted (TT Landlord being the other). Everybody seemed to be drinking Adnam’s. It was excellent, and I could have drunk it all day with the right friends. The LP was pretty good; a classic english bitter taste, but not as interesting as the adnam’s. The esb was a let down. Considering this is a favorite beer of mine in bottle, I expected much much more. Maybe it was just getting old. Hard to tell from a sample size of one.
So the local experts were right, six hours proved to be dangerously close to get into London, largely due to the fact I would’ve actually only had 4.5 hours once I got through immigration. Plane was on time; but I was in just about the last row, we had to wait to get on buses to transport us to the terminal, and the queue for immigration was enormous by the time I got there.
On the return trip, I stopped in and the three ales listed above were gone and replaced with ciders. Good I’m sure, but not my preference, so fortune smiled on me that day.
In Berlin I stopped in to the Standige and had some Gaffel Kolsch. It was decent and drinkable, but I could easily imagine that other Kolsch brands in Koln are better. Will have to find out some day. It was also great to have fresh German wheat beer for a week.