The Draft House to open at Tower Bridge

The Draft House has announced the arrival of its third London venue, opening at Tower Bridge on 14 September. The move sees the pub group venture for the first time beyond its Battersea heartland, extending its ethos on the modern approach to good pubkeeping to a wider audience.

The group’s mission statement is encourage the same success and respect for high quality, well-sourced, expertly-served beer as has been developed across food and wine categories in the UK over the past 20 years.

This sees The Draft House pubs focus its offer on a wide range of beers from around the world, available both on tap and by the bottle. Its pubs also offer the little-known third of a pint measure, encouraging consumers to taste more of the range on offer and increase their spend.

The new Tower Bridge venue will feature a special tasting room, where visitors will be able to try a broad selection of beers with a specially designed five-course food menu.

The food offer will range from classic British options, such as Cotswold watercress and nettle soup or Lincolnshire belly pork with black pudding hash, apple sauce and marjoram gravy, to a selection of bagels, burgers and traditional Sunday roasts.

Established in November last year by Charlie McVeigh, who is also managing director of London restaurant Le Café Anglais, the first two Draft House sites were The Westbridge and The Northcote, both in the residential areas of SW11. The Tower Bridge site will bring McVeigh’s pub vision to the hoards of tourists who visit the iconic London destination each day.

In an interview with db earlier this year, McVeigh outlined a host of further London locations he was eyeing up for future expansion of The Draft House brand. “I’d love to do one on Portobello Road, Mayfair, the King’s Road and further east in Shoreditch or Clerkenwell,” he speculated.

Gabriel Savage, 10.08.10