WE’RE so used to London sending raiding parties into our food and drink scene. OK, there have been hugely welcome arrivals, the likes of Hawksmoor and Randall & Aubin, but others are just seeking to exploit a ready market.
Let’s salute then a magnificent move in the reverse direction from Manchester’s highest profile brewery Cloudwater. MD Paul Jones has announced plans to open a taproom in South London in the autumn just three years after opening their Ancoats brewery. ToM believes it will be in a railway arch (naturally) in Enid Street close to the HQs of their capital peers Brew By Numbers and Kernel.
It looks the perfect showcase for their innovative range of seasonally shifting beers that have earned them the accolade of World’s Second Best Brewery from influential US site RateBeer (behind Vermont’s Hill Farmstead).
With Cloudwater production expected to top 7,500 hectolitres this year the new facility will also double up as a distribution hub for what is already the brewery’s biggest market.