100 Best Beer Days Out in the UK

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
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Bristol is one of my very favourite places to visit. It’s a really interesting city to walk round with a young vibe about it. You can spend a day just on one street, such is the quality of the pubs, but it would be a waste not delving into some of the quieter streets. Really need to get back to there.

We love going to Edinburgh, it feels quite different to many of the other UK cities and has that ready and present feel of history.

I’m not surprised that Manchester is the overall winner with us on Ratebeer. It has a thriving craft beer scene that has blended in with the more traditional pubs, our best scorers all tend to be craft based. I do wonder if Manchester centre should be split as it covers a wide area and parts like the Northern Quarter are quite well defined.

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Great piece of work.

I’ve really enjoyed reading over the month & no surprise with the top 2 for me - both regular places we visit.

Can it be shared on here as one list now or a link to an excel?

Thanks.

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1 Manchester Manc 562
2 Edinburgh Lothians 556
3 Bristol Gloucs 543
4 Birmingham W.Mids 535
5 Norwich Norfolk 526
6 Glasgow Glasgow 522
7 Leeds W.Yorks 522
8 Huddersfield W.Yorks 518
9 Liverpool Mersey 515
10 York N.Yorks 515
11 Aberdeen Grampian 510
12 Newcastle Upon Tyne Tyne & Wear 507
13 Cambridge Cambs 506
14 Nottingham Notts 506
15 Sheffield, Kelham Island S.Yorks 501
16 Brighton E.Sussex 500
17 Sheffield S.Yorks 499
18 Hackney London 496
19 Derby Derbys 490
20 Reading Berks 488
21 Southampton Hants 487
22 Leicester Leics 485
23 Cheltenham Gloucs 481
24 Worcester Worcs 481
25 Cardiff S.Glamorgan 479
26 Stockport Manc 479
27 Burton-on-Trent Staffs 478
28 Brixton London 477
29 Bethnal Green London 476
30 Birmingham, Hockley W.Mids 476
31 Hull E.Yorks 472
32 Bath Somerset 471
33 Borough London 469
34 Canterbury Kent 467
35 Peterborough Cambs 466
36 Shrewsbury Shrops 465
37 Shoreditch London 463
38 Chester Cheshire 463
39 Lancaster Lancs 463
40 Islington London 462
41 Oxford Oxon 461
42 Bristol, St. Phillips Gloucs 460
43 Wolverhampton W.Mids 459
44 Harrogate N.Yorks 459
45 Lincoln Lincs 458
46 Camden London 457
47 Northampton Northants 457
48 Walsall W.Mids 456
49 Soho London 453
50 Hastings E.Sussex 453
51 Colchester Essex 452
52 Darlington Durham 452
53 Exeter Devon 452
54 Altrincham Manc 451
55 Chelmsford Essex 450
56 Ipswich Suffolk 450
57 Belfast County Antrim 450
58 Kensington London 449
59 Birmingham, Digbeth W.Mids 449
60 St. Albans Herts 449
61 Coventry W.Mids 448
62 Oxford, St. Clements Oxon 448
63 Preston Lancs 448
64 Durham Durham 448
65 Kings Cross London 447
66 Falmouth Cornwall 447
67 Loughborough Leics 446
68 Warrington Cheshire 446
69 Southbank London 445
70 Gloucester Gloucs 445
71 Stourbridge W.Mids 445
72 Buxton Derbys 444
73 Portsmouth, Southsea Hants 444
74 Chiswick London 443
75 Scarborough N.Yorks 443
76 Ely Cambs 443
77 Macclesfield Cheshire 443
78 Hammersmith London 443
79 Doncaster S.Yorks 443
80 Inverness Highlands 442
81 Swindon Wiltshire 442
82 Edinburgh, Leith Lothians 442
83 Bedford Beds 441
84 City London 441
85 Peckham Rye London 440
86 Lewes E.Sussex 440
87 Halifax W.Yorks 439
88 Chesterfield Derbys 439
89 Ealing London 439
90 Rugby Warks 439
91 Gateshead Tyne & Wear 439
92 Salisbury Wiltshire 439
93 Newcastle Under Lyme Staffs 439
94 Holborn London 437
95 Wigan Manc 437
96 Edinburgh, Newington Lothians 437
97 Kentish Town London 437
98 Leek Staffs 437
99 Skipton N.Yorks 437
100 Bradford W.Yorks 436
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Excellent work @imdownthepub

I guess Bermondsey is a little bit too new to hit the very top in terms of total reviews, footfall etc … bearing in mind RB place reviews are not as numerous as they once were!

However (and im not in anyway associated with the Bermondsey tourist board !) … I do go there every 2nd or 3rd Friday after work (1500 finish … 20 minutes desk to any taproom from my office) and there are more than enough venues open pre 1700 to meet your criteria … just incomplete information on RB for opening hours etc … presuming that was your source?

Total is 506 points … joint 13th with cambridge and Nottingham… bye bye Bradford !

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This is it. I don’t blame people for not ratung, especially as adding a place is a pain in the ass and a dpuble extra pain in the ass when you forget to log out and in again & it denies you. But the place ratings are the feature of the site that set us apart from Untappd IMO.

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I used to edit/correct opening times on RB quite a bit in the past … however the past 3 years with lockdown they have been so erratic and ever changing ive given up … i would never trust the info on RB as often a decade out of date so i always google or contact the venue in advance when visiting somewhere im not familiar with.

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It will be interesting to see how things have moved on in possibly 3 years. Hopefully we have triggered some interest in reviewing places.

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All 3 great for beer though Edinburgh seems to have declined since the plague, some top places didn’t survive and others like Banging Hat are a shadow of what they once were. Bristol is annoyingly good (annoying in that it was rubbish when I left and has now become epic), I’d love a full weekend there but hotel prices since the plague reversed have been off the chain. Manchester has always been a favourite, from cask ticking days in N/4 to the plethora of bars and taprooms now

All in it’s been a fun ride courtesy of @imdownthepub - some of the results definitely seem outdated, purely down to the fact hardly anyone rates places any more, but overall I’d say the ‘division 1’ (I follow cricket not hoofball!) is a good reflection of the best places

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Excellent work… and a great list to print… to tick off & plan future trips!

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Thirteen out of the first sixteen Ratebeer place listings for Bermondsey have either wrong or incomplete hours listen. All thirteen meet the “open by 1700 on Friday” test. Here is a summary of what I found by visiting web pages for the first sixteen Bermondsey place listings. It is possible that not all of the venues keep their pages up to date, and one or two show shorter winter hours.

Kernel Brewery (Saturday only, or are bottles now sold only in the taproom?)

*BBNo - Wed 5-10pm, Thu 5-10pm, Fri 5-10pm, Sat 12-10pm, Sun 12-7pm

*Cloudwater London Taproom - WEDNESDAY 16:00-20:00, THURSDAY 16:00-22:00, FRIDAY 16:00-22:00, SATURDAY 13:00–22:00, SUNDAY 14:00-20:00

*Fourpure Brewing Company - Thursday 16.00 to 20.00, Friday 16.00 to 22.00, Saturday 12.00 to 22.00, Sunday 12.00 to 18.00

*Kernel Brewery Taproom - Thursday 15:00-22:00, Friday 15:00-22:00, Saturday 11:00-21:00, Sunday 12:00-20:00 (Hours not listed on Ratebeer)

*Barrel Project - Wed-Fri: 4pm - 11pm, Sat: 11am - 11pm, Sun: 12pm - 7pm

Eebria Taproom (Saturday only)

*Craft Beer Junction - Thursday 16:30 - 22:30, Friday 16:30 - 23:00, Saturday 14:00 - 23:00, Sunday 14:00 - 21:00 (Hours not listed on Ratebeer)

*Anspach & Hobday - WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY 5:00 – 10:00pm, FRIDAY 12:00 - 10:00pm, SATURDAY 11:00am – 10:00pm, SUNDAY 1:00 - 6:00pm

Eebria.com - Online store

*Simon the Tanner - Tuesday 16:00-23:00, Wednesday 16:00-23:00, Thursday 16:00-23:00,
Friday 12:00-23:00, Saturday 12:00-23:00, Sunday 12:00-23:00

*Moor Beer Vaults - Wednesday-Friday 2pm–10.30pm, Saturday 12pm-10.30pm, Sunday Closed during winter apart from events

*Hawkes Cidery & Taproom - THU 4-11pm, FRI 4-11pm, SAT 12-11pm, SUN 12-7pm (Hours not listed on Ratebeer)

*Southwark Brewing Company - Tuesday,Thursday&Friday: 5pm - 10pm, Saturday: 12pm - 7pm,
Sunday: 1pm - 5pm

*?Partizan Brewing - The taproom is open on Friday 5-10pm and Saturday 12-8pm. Winter taproom opening hours: Saturday 12 - 8pm

*Bianca Road Taproom - Weds-Thurs…4pm-10pm, Friday…4pm-11pm, Saturday…1pm-11pm, Sunday…1pm-6pm (Hours not listed on Ratebeer)

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Thank you for this. I will update our data and hopefully next time we run this Bermondsey will be way up there.

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I’m just doing this now as its inspired me to catch up on a few unrated places so leave it with me

I’ll fix the times as a one off, but not something I’m going to get into the habit of as things tend to change quite a bit, even seasonally!

I’ve also just retired the original Kernel entry … the open for bottle 900 - 1400 is all a bit pointless now with Arch 7 a few doors away … not sure they trade from the original site anymore

If you add the 9 points difference between new and old Kernel venues … Bermondsey would sit in joint 9th spot overall!

Post edit … my review for the new Kernel taproom has just given Bermondsey an additional point!

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Bermondsey is first for me! I just go to Enid Street, then add either the Kernel or the Barrel Project depending on which direction I feel like walking. Pretty much all of my visits are somewhere in Greater London.

Query: If I can gather the necessary permissions from Mrs Whovous for our next visit to London sometime this summer, I’d like to try to take a shot at Bristol. Is there a Bristol train station within walking distance of at least three or four of the best Bristol pubs or taprooms?

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Bristol Temple Meads (BTM) is relatively central … fast trains from London Paddington.

It’s within a 15 minute (17 according to Google Maps) walk of the likes of Small Bar etc.

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Thanks!

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Bermondsey has now had a refresh with the current hours posted above by @whovous

Also added ‘cask available’ at both Cloudwater and Kernel … new innovation at both this year

With a couple of place ratings having been caught up on … the official Bermondsey score is now 508 pts (for the qualifying venues open before 1700 on Friday) so sits at #11 overall.

I’d also argue this score in reality is 516 … the new Kernel taproom (which is way better than the old one) is 8 points lower at present just due to low numbers of ratings and for me easily matches the original.

That would put Bermondsey in 8th spot overall.

Yours the Bermondsey Tourist Board !

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I need to work on updating opening tines for pubs near me at least. They seem to change so often in response to footfall - a few places in Leiceater have chabged their opening times 3 or 4 times in the lastvyear. A smart business strategy but it does tempt me to replace opening times with ‘check website or social media for current hours’.

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yes … I’ve not reviewed many places these past 3 or 4 years but on some of those I reviewed post the initial lockdown in June 2020 I did sometimes wipe the hours and replace with ‘check website’ as they bore no relevance to actuality and even now many places aren’t back to what we consider normal hours.

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I think it may be easier to put ‘see website/twitter’ instead of opening times.

Although the good thing about this thread is that it made me realise I need to slightly re-do my planned Bermondsey pubcrawl next Month. Not as many places open at 14:00 as expected (one). Also thought I should double-check when the Green Goddess opens as was going to take a couple of mates there before the others arrive in London. That place isn’t open in time either.

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Hopefully, apart from the slightly controversial missing place, everyone enjoyed the journey. One last set of stats to come from this -

Counties with most places in Top 100.

Greater London - 18
West Midlands - 8
East Sussex - 5
Greater Manchester - 4
Gloucestershire - 4
North Yorkshire - 4
West Yorkshire - 3
Cambridgeshire - 3
South Yorkshire - 3
Derbyshire - 3
Staffordshire - 3
Cheshire - 3
Tyne & Wear - 2
Hampshire - 2
Leicestershire - 2
Lancashire - 2
Oxfordshire - 2
Essex - 2
Co. Durham - 2
Wiltshire - 2
Norfolk - 1
Merseyside - 1
Nottinghamshire - 1
Berkshire - 1
Worcestershire - 1
East Yorkshire - 1
Somerset - 1
Kent - 1
Shropshire - 1
Lincolnshire - 1
Northamptonshire - 1
Devon - 1
Suffolk - 1
Hertfordshire - 1
Cornwall - 1
Bedfordshire - 1
Warwickshire - 1

Northern Ireland
County Antrim - 1

Scotland
Lothians - 3
Glasgow - 1
Grampian - 1
Highlands - 1

Wales
South Glamorgan - 1

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