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Will Hawkes

@willhawkes.bsky.social
1.8K followers 380 following 1.1K posts

Writes about food, beer, travel. Author of Telegraph’s 500 Best Pubs in England & @LondonBeerCity, monthly missive on pubs & beer. Fortnum and Mason Drink Writer of the Year 2021 & 2023

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James Wright @jpwarchaeology.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The ACTUAL Oldest Pub in England. A film that I wrote and presented in collaboration with @HistoricEngland and A Few Good Productions. Click the link for some gratuitous shots of me talking timbers and building up a powerful thirst... youtu.be/RlyvHJtptbc?...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Music hall, the Isle of Dogs and the first gentrifier in East London: londonbeercity.beehiiv.com/p/a-time-and...
londonbeercity.beehiiv.com
A Time and a Place: The Isle of Dogs, 1962
Musci
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Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We've just belatedly got round to signing up for this. £10.50 for a year's access to some of the best, most thoughtful and most amusing beer writing around.
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sidslim.bsky.social @sidslim.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
In the latest London Beer City, @willhawkes.bsky.social makes an excellent point - we've never heard what Kemi's favourite London pub is (did nobody ever ask her?). I bet she'd give a fascinating answer
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Henry Jeffreys @henrygjeffreys.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I wrote a thing about the recent AI controversy at the 67 Pall Mall awards henryjeffreys.substack.com/p/ai-row-bre...
henryjeffreys.substack.com
AI row breaks out at wine writing awards
More computer-aided controversy.
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Jeff Evans @jeffevanswriter.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
10 years in the making … greatly expanded and fully updated second edition on sale soon! Details and pre-orders shorturl.at/dIdDW or via the usual outlets.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I got a free first-class ticket from GWR, so I went to a pub in Somerset & made this silly video
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I got a free first-class ticket from GWR, so I went to a pub in Somerset & made this silly video
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Here's July's newsletter, featuring lager (in 1976 and now) & Sam Smiths' magnificent London pubs 🥵 londonbeercity.beehiiv.com/p/july-heatw...
londonbeercity.beehiiv.com
July: Heatwave Special, Featuring Lager 🥵
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David Desi Pubs Dason @davidjesudason.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Good piece this. As Will, says, strip pubs where common in the past. And all kind of pubs had them, especially ones with black or Asian gaffers like the Angel in Brixton I explored here www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2023/7/...
goodbeerhunting.com
Eclectic Avenues — How London’s First Black Pub Landlords Changed the City’s Drinking Culture — Good Beer Hunting
The HMT Empire Windrush has become a fitting symbol of the plight of Black Britain. The ship—which transported 1,027 passengers and two stowaways from Jamaica on June 22, 1948, a journey whose 75t...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
June’s @londonbeercity.bsky.social is going out this weekend. Featuring the death of London’s strip pubs, Spoons at the Trocadero and a Diego Maradona rug in a beer bar. Sign up here to read it today www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
A Diego Maradona rug at Feed The Yak by Wembley Stadium
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Eoghan Walsh @eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I have decided to do something incredibly stupid, so the least you can all do is read along with me
open.substack.com
#167: World Cup City
Introducing the Brussels Notes daily World Cup diary, from 1 June.
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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I’ve written about Peter Ackroyd’s remarkable new biography of Auden. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/auden-by-p...
mathewlyons.substack.com
Auden by Peter Ackroyd
The shambling life of England's most commanding twentieth-century poet
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
I had a few free hours in Carlisle yesterday AM so - being a fun-lover at heart - I did a little state-run pub tour. TBH, I didn’t find much evidence of what was but it’s an interesting town anyway.
A plaque on a private home, saying that it used to be the Petteril Bridge Inn until it was shut by state management in 1916The interior of the Magpie, built in 1933 for the state management scheme. It’s a delightful arts and crafts spaceThe exterior of the Howards Arms, which was covered by boarding during the govt-run years. That may be why it looks so good nowThe former Gretna Tavern, the first new government pub, opened in 1916. It had been the post office (and is now Lloyds).
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Two glasses? Must be ruff times
A dog with haunted eyes sitting in a pub. There are two glasses of red wine in front of him/her that seem like they might belong to said hound
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Augustiner now available at a major British supermarket! A key staging post on our road back to Europe imo
You can now get Augustiner at Sainsbury’s. Four bottles for 9.90, not bad
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Pellicle @pelliclemag.com · 29/04/2026
The story of The Burton Union would be very different without the loving interference of some key figures in the beer world. Now @thornbridge.bsky.social are using theirs to make some of the best beer in the country. @totalcurtis.bsky.social heads to Bakewell. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/4/...
pelliclemag.com
The Union Forever — How Thornbridge Saved a Vital Piece of Brewing History — Pellicle
In January 2024 Garrett Oliver emailed Thornbridge co-founder and managing director, Simon Webster. He’d heard a rumour that Carlsberg were “laying the unions to rest,” and asked if the Derbyshire bre...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Asahi replaces Brewdog at Lord’s. Includes London Pride but not clear if that’s cask/just for members.
A set of Peroni-branded stumps at Lord’s cricket ground
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
The Garden Gate, Leeds’ answer to the Bartons Arms. Almost as beautiful and just as shut.
The exterior of the Garden Gate. Edwardian with lots of art nouveau flourishesThe pub’s green and yellow ceramic barA plaque on the exterior setting that this is a Tetley Heritage pubMagnificent art nouveau detailing above the main entrance
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Subsidising energy consumption in the face of both a short-term supply shock and the long-term need to decarbonise. Bad for the economy, bad for the planet, bad for the world's poor. And *if* you favour a wealth tax (I am sceptical but there's a case) spending it on *this" is just idiotic.
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AJRed @ajred.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
The Sunday Sport not afraid to tackle the big issues of the day.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Nice little precis of how Premier Inn came into being 👏
A poster detailing Whitbread’s brewery acquisitions during the 20th century. Whitbread is now mostly notable as the owner of Premier Inn
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Pellicle @pelliclemag.com · 25/04/2026
Call us biased but David Bailey's Pellicle cartoons are genuinely one of beer culture's finest offerings, in our opinion. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/4/...
pelliclemag.com
David Bailey's Just Beer Things #32 — Tish IPA — Pellicle
*** Ok, so Tish IPA might not really exist… but Pellicle does! And that’s because we’re supported by our readers via Patreon . If you love what we publish and want to support them, get subscrib...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Happy St George’s Day 👌🏽
A delicious plate of baked beans on toast
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Henry Jeffreys @henrygjeffreys.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
As I am sure you are all aware it is English Whisky Week so wrote a thing about whether the industry was a little too close to Scotch - featuring the wisdom of @tonypancakes.bsky.social henryjeffreys.substack.com/p/english-wh...
henryjeffreys.substack.com
English whisky – too close to Scotland?
For English Whisky Week, I’m taking a look at the conflict that has divided the industry between the big boys and the scrappy upstarts.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Currently putting together a collection of iconic English sights as seen (distantly) from the train. Please enjoy Wiltshire’s white horse and Ely Cathedral
Wiltshire’s white horse, in the distance Ely Cathedral, in the distance
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
On a train from Dorchester to Bath. The next three stations are request stops! How did Beeching miss this one? Keep feeling we’ll draw up at Adlestrop - except it’s not June and this is Dorset, not Gloucestershire.
A view from the train, showing lush Dorset fields and an impertinent bush
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Matthew Curtis @totalcurtis.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
We are at 628 as of now, would love to hit 630 before the end of the weekend.
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Pellicle @pelliclemag.com · 15/04/2026
In the far north west of England, beer is flourishing. Who could have predicted that, like the felling of a tree, the fall of one brewery would create space for so many more? @katiematherkm.bsky.social on Cumbria's thriving beer scene. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/4/...
pelliclemag.com
My Heart Leaps Up — Beer, Graft and Tourism in Cumbria — Pellicle
I first met Matt and Michelle when they worked at Hawkshead Brewery, Matt as the head brewer, and Michelle as the head of marketing. In the 2010s, Hawkshead was the pride and joy of Cumbria’s independ...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social today, featuring all the usual pub and beer stuff - in particular Macintosh Ales, the Wild Swan & Deptford’s arty side. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
The Wild Swan in Fetter Street, London. The image features a stained glass depiction of a swan and bench seating
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
New @londonbeercity.bsky.social today, featuring all the usual pub and beer stuff - in particular Macintosh Ales, the Wild Swan & Deptford’s arty side. Sign up here: www.willhawkes.net/london-beer-...
The Wild Swan in Fetter Street, London. The image features a stained glass depiction of a swan and bench seating
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Katie Mather @katiematherkm.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
When Hawkshead Brewery shed most of its team and closed its tap room, I thought beer in Cumbria would suffer. I needn't have worried. My latest story for @pelliclemag.com is about the breweries and all the people and pubs that make up this county. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/4/...
pelliclemag.com
My Heart Leaps Up — Beer, Graft and Tourism in Cumbria — Pellicle
I first met Matt and Michelle when they worked at Hawkshead Brewery, Matt as the head brewer, and Michelle as the head of marketing. In the 2010s, Hawkshead was the pride and joy of Cumbria’s independ...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
The north-south divide runs through the Old Red Lion in Litchborough, Northants. While I was there yesterday two young men asked the landlady to take the sparkler off the Bass, which means - brace yourselves - this pub serves Bass three ways! Can anywhere else say the same? 🤔
A sign at the Old Red Lion which reads ‘Bass 🔺 Available on gravity or through the pump’
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Had a nice walk through the Jewellery Quarter in Brum during yesterday’s warm weather. Right up there with England’s best neighbourhoods for a unplanned stroll, imo. Great buildings and random chats
The entrance to the Manton Union Works, built 1913. It’s tower-shaped, faced in faience, crenellated and has lots of Art Nouveau details
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
'Craven Cottage', Fulham (1953) by Michael Bernard Critchlow chrisbeetles.com/artwork/4392...
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Ban Bubbly Beer.
Nine men sitting around a table in a Walsall pub in 1973. They are the founders of the local CAMRA branch. They are holding posters, one of which says “Ban Bubbly Beer”
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Draught Carling is still (only?) popular with older men in the Midlands, like Mild before it. A nice example of history repeating/rhyming. It was the future once!
An empty glass of Carling in the Manor Arms, Walsall
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Conversation on a Sussex bus: Young woman: Look at that lamb Young man: What’s a lamb Young woman: It’s a baby sheep Young man: That’s what lamb is? (Thinks) Young man: Shut up it ain’t
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 05/04/2026
frustrating that this had to be spelled out to this extent, tbh, but this is good on why you should care that Bluesky isn't growing:
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Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I need the most pathetic gesture you have.

No, that’s too pathetic.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Not been to Bamberg for ages, but occasionally it comes to me 🙏
A bottle of Schlenkerla Erla, a delicious dark lager made with alder-smoked malt, that I bought in my local shop 😮
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harrysword.bsky.social @harrysword.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The problem is that Bluesky really *is* an echo chamber/mono culture. Some people like that, of course. And most of them are on here. But loads don’t. And before you start actually read the thread below.
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Eoghan Walsh @eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I never made it to the Kulminator in Antwerp - partly bc I found the "test" to get in a bit off-putting. Sad to see it's closed now, though. share.google/xMDX78IysdIg...
share.google
'Beste biercafé ter wereld' in Antwerpen sluit de deuren
Heuglijk nieuws dan uit de Antwerpse Zoo, want daar is een okapi geboren. Voor de zoo extra fijn nieuws omdat ze het wereldwijde stamboek van de okapi beheert.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Opening at 5pm!
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Thornbridge’s London pub, The Wild Swan, is finally opening on Fetter Lane in London today. A very Good Friday.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The marvellous Three Horse Shoes in Whitwick, Leicestershire, which I found out about through @retiredmartinpubs.bsky.social’s excellent blog. One of the chattiest pubs in England.
The interior of the Three Horse Shoes in Whitwick, showing a dozen customers and a small dog.
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Pellicle @pelliclemag.com · 02/04/2026
It's new book launch day for our editor @totalcurtis.bsky.social! Come to Café Beermoth this evening from 4pm - late to celebrate the release of Best Beer Pubs and Bars 2 and drink plenty of the special @runawaybrewery.bsky.social Man-Chester's Mild brewed for the occasion.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The marvellous Three Horse Shoes in Whitwick, Leicestershire, which I found out about through @retiredmartinpubs.bsky.social’s excellent blog. One of the chattiest pubs in England.
The interior of the Three Horse Shoes in Whitwick, showing a dozen customers and a small dog.
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Franz D. Hofer @tempestinatankard.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Wow, nice photo of the coolship at Windischeschenbach! Here's how it looked that night.
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Will Hawkes @willhawkes.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Amazing place, marvellous culture, excellent article. I think this is the coolship mentioned in the story, in the communal Windischeschenbach brewhouse (pic taken by me a while back)
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