Ram Quarter’s unique beer heritage has been brought vividly to life by Greenland in a collaboration with London’s oldest independent brewer, Sambrook’s.
Greenland and Sambrook’s hosted the Craft Beer by the River festival on Saturday 13th July at Ram Quarter, the former home of Young’s Ram Brewery on the banks of the River Wandle. More than 1300 people attended the all-day celebration, which included live music, family-friendly entertainment, street food stalls, and fifty types of beer including Sambrook’s hand-crafted beers alongside guest ales and lagers from across the UK.
As well as giving Wandsworth residents and beer lovers from across London the chance to explore the historic brewery site – which has been opened to the public thanks to Greenland’s redevelopment – the festival also inaugurated a special new partnership between Sambrook’s and Greenland. Later this year Sambrook’s will be moving its operations to Ram Quarter as well as opening a new tap room and bottle shop.
The London brewer also plans to run a heritage centre delivered by Greenland at the development, the oldest continual brewing site in the country, which will present the history of brewing in London.
Brewing has been taking place at Ram Quarter since at least 1533 and the site was famously home to Young’s until 2006. Festival-goers on Saturday were given a glimpse of what’s to come in Ram’s next brewing chapter with Sambrook’s move, as well as a look at its unique heritage spaces including the brewery beam engines and coppers preserved by Greenland. Tours were given by Sambrook’s founder and managing director Duncan Sambrook, and former Young’s master brewer John Hatch who has maintained a nanobrewery at the development with Greenland’s support.
Chris Daly, senior commercial manager at Greenland, said: “It was great to see Ram’s transformation come to fruition on Saturday as family and friends of all ages enjoyed the festival atmosphere and, of course, Sambrook’s excellent beer. Our vision has always been to create somewhere that all of the community can enjoy, and with Sambrook’s now moving permanently to Ram Quarter we’re confident that there will be plenty of such opportunities in the years to come.”