Brewpub Near Me in Wandsworth: Sambrook's Beer Under the Ram Brewery Chimney

Sambrook's Brewery Tap sits at 42 Ram Street, London SW18 1UD, inside the old Young's Ram Brewery, and the beer at the bar is brewed a few metres away on the same site. The brewery says people have brewed on this patch of Wandsworth since 1533, which makes it one of the oldest continuous brewing sites in Britain. The taproom opens at noon from Tuesday to Sunday and stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and a Margherita costs £6 in the small size. If you typed brewpub near me anywhere between Clapham Junction and Putney, start here.

Duncan Sambrook left a City job to start the brewery in Battersea in 2008 with David Welsh, after a trip to the Great British Beer Festival in 2006 convinced him London needed more local cask ale. The first beer came off the kit in November 2008 and was named Wandle, after the river that runs past Wandsworth. At the time, the brewery notes, London had only five breweries. By its own count the city now has more than 120.

Twelve years in, Sambrook's outgrew Battersea. In 2018 it began the move to the former Young's brewery site, and after three years of planning, slowed down by the pandemic, the new brewery and taproom opened in July 2021. Young's had stopped brewing here in 2006, so the move brought full-scale brewing back to the yard under the old brick chimney, which still marks the site on the Wandsworth skyline.

The most interesting person on site is John Hatch, the historian and heritage brewer who usually wears a white lab coat. After Young's closed he stayed on and kept a tiny brewery running at the Ram site from 2006 until Sambrook's arrived in 2021, so that the run of brewing here was never broken. Once a month the taproom still pours a special beer made on John's nano kit, and it is the beer regulars ask about first.

John also leads the Heritage Centre tours. The standard tour costs £25 per person and lasts one hour with a Q&A. It includes two one-third-pint tasters at the start, a stop in the brewery shop and two half-pint tokens to spend in the taproom afterwards. A Tripadvisor reviewer in July 2024 called him a fabulous raconteur with 40 years on the site. Booking ahead is required, because tours fill up.

The bar runs more than 15 rotating lines, and you can order a tasting flight if you can't decide. Start with the four regular cask ales, all brewed with English hops and malt and all named after local landmarks. Wandle is the best bitter, Junction is the premium ale, Pumphouse is the pale ale and Powerhouse is the porter. Wandle has won bronze in the Champion Beer of Britain twice, and the brewery calls that its proudest achievement.

Keg drinkers get a session IPA, a fuller IPA, a nitro stout and a pilsner on the core list. Keep an eye out for the Imperial Stout at 10.4 percent, which was named supreme champion keg beer at SIBA BeerX in 2016. In summer the best seller is Lavender Hill, a golden ale made with English blossom honey that changes from year to year. The taproom also serves cocktails, wine and low- and no-alcohol drinks.

Food here means pizza, made by head chef Antonio with ingredients from small Italian suppliers. Most pizzas come in two sizes. The Margherita is £6 small or £10.75 full, the Pazza Pepperoni with hot honey and chives is £8 or £15, and the Funghi with funghi trifolati and truffle oil is £7.50 or £14. You can add a whole burrata to any pizza for £4.50. The vegan La Nostra Vegana, with vegan 'nduja and roast pepper, is £8.75 or £17.

Away from the pizzas, the burrata small plate is £9.50, cheesy garlic bread is £5 and the house quesadilla, made on pizza-dough tortillas with chicken and pepperoni, is £10. The Calzoncino filled with Nutella and ricotta is £7.95 if you want something sweet. Pizzas are two-for-one every Tuesday, and there is a bottomless brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. A 12.5 percent discretionary service charge goes on the bill, and the venue only takes cards, not cash.

Inside, the downstairs bar sits right under the chimney, and a mezzanine with its own bar holds 120 people for match days and birthday groups. There is also a private function room for 50 people. Out front, the beer terrace is the reason to come on a dry evening. Note that the terrace does not take reservations. Staff will try to honour seating requests, but you only get a guaranteed table by booking indoors through SevenRooms.

Children are welcome on the terrace all day. Inside, the taproom becomes over-18s only after 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays, so families should plan Saturday visits for the afternoon. Well-behaved dogs are allowed anywhere. There is step-free access to the terrace, the ground floor and the accessible gender-neutral toilets, and a lift in the shop takes guests up to the mezzanine and the Heritage Centre.

Fridays bring live bands and Saturdays bring DJs, so both nights are busy and noisy. Sundays have a quiz. For a quieter pint with John's latest nano beer, a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon is the better choice. Don't come on a Monday expecting lunch: the kitchen does not start until 5pm that day. On the other days it runs from noon until 9.30pm, and until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

If you are a serious beer drinker, book the Tasting and Tour Experience. It runs on the first Thursday of each month at 6.30pm and costs £50. You get the Heritage Centre tour, two tasting paddles, a meat and cheese board and a six-inch pizza, which is a better deal than ordering the same food and beer separately. For something bigger, you can pay £200 for two people to spend a Brewer for the Day session with John and take home a mini-keg.

Wandsworth Town station is about a five-minute walk away along Old York Road, which is also the easiest route back after a late pint. From Clapham Junction it is a fifteen-minute walk up St John's Hill and down East Hill, or you can take the 37, 39, 87, 156 or 170 bus. The 220 and 270 buses run from Earlsfield and Putney. Look for the chimney, then walk through the archway on Ram Street, next to the Heritage Centre.

Cyclists have it easy, because there is a Santander Cycles docking station opposite the taproom on Ram Street, and staff can show you where the bike racks are in the Ram Quarter. After your pint, a short walk takes you to the River Wandle, the river the first beer was named after, on its last stretch before it joins the Thames.

Address: Sambrook's Brewery Tap, 42 Ram Street, London SW18 1UD, entered through the Ram Street archway. Email: taproom@sambrooksbrewery.co.uk. Taproom hours: Tuesday to Sunday from noon, until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 10pm on Sundays. Payment: cards only, plus a 12.5 percent discretionary service charge. Tours: Heritage Centre £25, Tasting and Tour Experience £50, Brewer for the Day £200 for two, all booked in advance.

For questions about a seat, an allergy or a large group, Karpo can check what is on that week and suggest a backup pub nearby if the terrace is full.