LONDON (AP) — For lovers of beer, lagers and ciders, London has an answer that’s off the beaten track: The Bermondsey Beer Mile, a loose collection of brewery bars and liquor stores that stretches well over a mile through the streets and railway arches of south London.
The attraction stretches from near Tower Bridge to parts of Bermondsey, a gentrifying area that just a few years ago would have been considered best to avoid. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, hundreds of beer connoisseurs descend on two dozen or so breweries to sample a wide range of craft beers, ales, stouts, mead and more.
The beginnings of the Bermondsey Beer Mile date to 2009, when craft brewer The Kernel opened the first brewing site in the area. Since then, the Mile has sprung up in piecemeal fashion. Breweries change location or close, replaced by new ones.
Many of the breweries have found wider success and moved on after outgrowing the space limitations of the railway viaduct arches. But there are always new bars and breweries cropping up, offering live music, table tennis and even skateboarding. The bustling atmosphere shows that 16 years on from its launch, the Bermondsey Beer Mile is still one of London’s best drinking destinations.