FREE

Tottenham: the second real ale revival crawl
opefully now becoming an annual event, the crawl will
Htake place on Saturday 4 June and this year will feature
three breweries.
As little as five years ago, real ale had almost disappeared
in my part of London. Indeed, the local council seemed
determined to eliminate pubs entirely. Thanks to the efforts
of a few individuals, notably Andy Moffat of Redemption
Brewing and a large number of community shareholders and
volunteers, we now have a thriving brewing quarter and North
London’s first community-owned pub.
We are meeting at the Beehive, Stoneleigh Road (N17 9BQ)
at 1pm. This is almost opposite the bus stops from Seven
Sisters station (149, 243, 259, 279, and 476 to Bruce Grove)
and Bruce Grove station (Overground). On the High Road,
you might want to visit the Elbow Room (a shop conversion,
formerly a Wetherspoon’s) and the Ship (keg, but a fine
building). The Beehive is a former North London branch Pub
of the Season, with seven rotating real ales, many from
London, real cider and craft beers. There is food from 1pm.
At 2pm, we’ll set off on the crawl. Cross the public car park
and turn left on to Chestnut Road. At the far end is the
Volunteer (N17 9EU). We can stop here for a quick
Bombardier. Then we’ll carry on straight across the bus
station and past Tottenham Hale station on to Ferry Lane.
Once across the railway bridge, take a walk through or round
our local version of Manhattan, the Hale Village development
(no pubs, just a Tesco Local) to Mill Mead Road. The
Lockwood Industrial Estate (N17 9QP) is just on the left.
The next stop is a brewery open day. Beavertown moved
to Tottenham in 2014. It started as a four barrel pub brewery,
but now brews 40 barrels most days and occupies three
double width industrial units. It is an American-style craft
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brewery, albeit British owned, with strong ties to similar
operations world-wide. Most of the beer is kegged or
canned, with a very large proportion being exported. On
Saturdays, they open the premises from 2 to 8pm with bars
and street food, music and games. We’ll aim to be there
about 3pm.
I’ll pause here to talk about the pub scene in Tottenham.
There is a big North/South divide. There are now at least six
real ale pubs in North Tottenham (N17) but none in South
Tottenham (N15), which was once home to four branches of
Wetherspoon’s. A few pubs have tried (and failed) to sell
decent beer. Can anyone explain why?
Once we have quenched our thirsts, we face a 30 minute
walk. Cross Mill Mead Road and take the footpath past the
allotments and towards the Lee Navigation. The main path
along the canal is to the left. Across the water you can see
working boats including Thames sailing barges. The path
takes us through the Tottenham Marshes to the Stonebridge
Locks, where we take another left turn. This path takes us
under the main road and past the Victoria Line depot to the
level crossing at Northumberland Park station. Continue
down Park Lane to the main road, Willoughby Lane: turn right
and then third left into Willoughby Park Road, which becomes
West Road. Our target is the first industrial estate on the left
(N17 0XL).
One Mile End have their brewery in Unit 2. This is a brewpub
in Whitechapel that needed more production capacity, so they
took over the former Redemption premises and ten barrel kit at
the beginning of this year. Simon is expecting us about 4.30pm.
They are open to the public on Saturday afternoons.
Once we have finished there, we’ll cross the estate to Unit
16, the new premises of Redemption Brewing. Andy has a
brand new 30 barrel kit and a tasting room overlooking the
brewery. They too are opening at the weekend for people to
try the beer. We’ll aim to be there about 5.30pm.
Then we face another 30 minute walk, with no decent pubs
en route. Turn right on West Road and right again through
the council estate. Cross Northumberland Park into
Northumberland Grove, then right again into Park Lane. We
pass the south end of the Spurs ground before crossing the
High Road into Church Road. The Antwerp Arms is at the far
end (No. 168, N17 8AS). This is North London’s first
community-owned pub. It was threatened with redevelopment
as housing in 2013, but the efforts of local people
to oppose conversion and raise money (from 330 shareholders
amongst other sources) allowed the Association to buy the
freehold in 2015. The pub was purpose-built about 1820, and
extended in the 1860s. Redemption beers are featured with
the occasional guest. Street food is available in the evenings.
We should be there about 7pm.
The Antwerp faces Bruce Castle Park and is almost
surrounded by the greenery of the Tottenham Cemetery. All
Souls, Tottenham is close by. It was the original parish church
(the tower is said to be 12th century). Tottenham Hotspur
Football Club was founded in the Church Hall. If anyone
fancies a further expedition, walk down Church Lane past
these buildings to the Elmhurst on Lordship Lane – an Art
Deco pub (1909, pretty original interior) – for a glass of
Courage Directors and probably some live music.
Walking time, including getting back to buses on the
Tottenham High Road, will be about 90 minutes in total.
Ian McLaren
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