Kmflett's Blog

If we go back 50 years cask ale in London was not in a great place. The old style keg tide had swept the Capital and as CAMRA noted at the time only the independent breweries Fullers and Youngs stood against the tide, continuing to produce cask (though Fullers had a dalliance with top pressure dispense).

In 2026 both Fullers and Youngs cask beers are still available in London although they are both now pub companies. Asahi owns the Fullers brewery in Chiswick and Youngs is (probably) brewed in Burton.

The impact of the Campaign for Real Ale on the then Big Brewers from the mid-1970s was substantial. Cask returned. Even Watneys after a hybrid Fined Bitter diversion starting selling Websters on handpump. The 1989 Beer Orders saw the break up of the old Big Brewers, Courage, Charrington, Ind Coope etc. For a period Wetherspoons were arguably the most reliable places to find cask in the Capital.

The rise of new craft breweries in London from the late 2000s saw some new cask beers on the bars of mainly indy pubs. However in the 2010s many of the breweries turned to mainly keg and sometimes than craft keg production. The latter is defined by CAMRA as real ale but working out if a beer on the bar is keg or keykeg can sometimes be difficult (and the beer style may be more important than the dispense for some).

In 2026 the August/September issue of CAMRA’s London Drinker reports that the new Thornbridge Pub, the Wild Swan (Fetter Lane) installed six rather than ten handpumps thinking that cask beer in London was not a big thing. Sales of 10% were expected. In reality sales of cask in the pub are in excess of 25%.

The market for good quality, well kept cask beer is clearly still there, if it can get on bartops that is.