The Best Beer Festivals In London In October 2017

Dave Haste
By Dave Haste Last edited 77 months ago

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The Best Beer Festivals In London In October 2017
The Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, home of the Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival. Photo: Mike T

Most of London’s beer festivals this October seem to fall in the second half of the month, with many congregating around Halloween, as usual. Dust off the cobwebs and get involved.

14-15 October: Heist Bank Beer Festival

Paddington’s Heist Bank bar will be hosting its first beer festival on Saturday and Sunday, showcasing beers from an impressive array of independent brewers, ‘headlined’ by Fourpure, Beavertown, Thornbridge, and Wild Beer Co. Sourdough pizzas from the bar’s wood-fired oven will be available to soak up the beer, and DJs will be providing a musical accompaniment in the evenings.

The festival is split over four five-hour sessions; entry to each costs £15 in advance, and includes some tokens for beer and food. To encourage prompt arrival, the first 30 people through the door will gain access to a ‘workshop’ in the bar’s games room, where they will be able to preview special releases from the festival’s headline brewers before they go on sale in the bar.

19-21 October: Twickenham Beer & Cider Festival

Regular as clockwork, CAMRA’s Twickenham Beer & Cider Festival returns for its annual instalment at York House (a five-minute walk from Twickenham station). This year the festival aims to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love; how exactly the festival organisers intend to mark this occasion remains to be seen, especially considering they have promised that there will be “no music” at the festival.

Aside from the hippie flower children, the festival should feature a wide selection of real ales, ciders, and (probably) perries, as well as food of some description. The festival runs from 12pm to 10.30pm each day, for which entry will cost £3 (with discounts for CAMRA members or those turning up on the Thursday or Friday lunchtimes).

25-28 October: Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival

Another October means another loosely-Halloween-themed booze-up in the Grade II listed Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, courtesy of the ninth instalment of the Wandsworth Common Halloween Beer Festival. 100 real ales (plus some keg beers, it seems), 25 ciders, tasty ‘street food’ (nowhere near a street, mind you), and live music are all set to feature. Entry costs £1 more than last year: £5 (or £4 for CAMRA members) on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday, with online pre-registration recommended. Alternatively, you can pay £25 online (or £35 on the door) for the preview night from 6pm on the Wednesday, with all beer, cider and wine included in the ticket price.

Also...

  • London Brewers’ Market will be showcasing London-brewed beers on two separate occasions in October. On 13 October, from 6pm to 10pm, they will be returning to Greenwich Market to celebrate German beer styles. Then on 21 October they will be at Clapham’s Venn Street Market from 10am to 4pm, selling tasty beers to accompany the market’s locally-produced food.
  • Carshalton’s excellent Hope pub will be hosting one of their regular beer festivals from 26-28 October. They must be running out of inspiration for their usual laboriously groanworthy puns, because this month’s instalment appears to be titled “to be named” (at the time of writing).
  • The Fox in Hanwell will be staging a Halloween beer festival from 27-29 October, promising more than 18 real ales and ciders, and barbecued food on the Saturday.

If you’re a lover of beer or pubs, check out our ever-expanding database of the best pubs in London.

Last Updated 09 October 2017