The Lamb Brewery, London W4. PIc: Convivial.
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
West London: Chiswick
Contemporary pub, brewpub (Convivial)
9 Barley Mow Passage W4 4PH
T 020 8994 1880 w www.lambbrewery.com f !lambbrewery tw BarleyMowPub
Open 1100 (1000 Sat-Sun)-2300 (2400 Fri-Sat, 2230 Sun). Children welcome until mid-evening.
Cask beer 6 (Lamb, Botanist, 3 sometimes local guests) Cask Marque, Other beer 7 keg (Lamb, international), 25 bottles, Also Around 20 wines.
Food Steaks, traditional and contemporary upmarket pub grub, beer tasting menus, Outdoor Large enclosed front terrace, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Beer tastings, brewery demonstrations and activities.
Attractively situated in a little alleyway on the eastern apex of Turnham Green, and fronted by a lovely terrace, the Lamb is an independent brewpub in the heart of Fuller’s country. Owners Convivial first dipped their toes into the mash tun in 2011 when sister pub the Botanist on Kew Green added a brewery. Its success prompted a radical reworking of the former Barley Mow, reopened as the Lamb in September 2012.
The brewhouse itself is right by the front door, but the brewing theme spreads throughout the long, narrow single bar area of the chalet-style building, with a copper bar matching the brewing vessels, and beer-related bits and pieces in display cabinets and on walls.
Complementing the cask beer focus of the Botanist, the Lamb pursues a more international route, mainly producing keg beers in European and US-inspired styles. Four of these – a pilsner, a weissbier, an American pale ale and a strongish stout – are regularly available alongside German imports Bitburger pils and Köstritzer Schwarzbier, plus British-brewed Sam Adams lager.
The single cask bitter, Lamb Ale, is supplemented on the handpumps by Botanist brews and other often local guests from Redemption and Sambrook’s. There’s some good stuff, too, on the bottled list, with UK choices from BrewDog, Dark Star, Oakham, St Peter’s and Thornbridge lining up alongside Achel Trappist beers, craft cans from Hawaii’s Maui, and Czech options from Budvar and Regent.
The rather upmarket atmosphere may not match everyone’s idea of a place to relax with a good pint, but it’s stylishly accomplished with good food options too. Butcher’s Block steaks, pies, mussels and chips, salads, sandwiches and Mediterranean-influenced sharing boards all appear with beer matching recommendations and with various tasting tray deals and beer-related events, the Lamb is a welcome new evangelist of the brewer’s art.
Pub trivia. The Lamb borrows its name from a now-defunct brewery in nearby Church Street, once owned by the Thrale family who once owned what later became the Barclay Perkins brewery in Southwark, a giant of its age. The Lamb claimed a shared origin with Fuller’s in the domestic brewhouse at Bedford House, and in the 19th century rivalled the Griffin brewery in local importance. It ended up in the hands of Watney, which closed it in 1922, with Fuller’s using the site for a while as warehousing. The brick tower, now converted to offices, still stands today.
Underground Turnham Green, Chiswick Park Cycling LCN+ 35 and links to Chiswick national rail Walking Link to Thames Path
