You must be a Member of Ealing u3a to take part in an Interest Group

**CURRENTLY WE ARE NOT ADDING ANY MORE MEMBERS TO THIS GROUP**

We love our ale! We like sampling new and varied cask ales with some discussion about them and exploring new pubs to drink them in.

The Beer Investigation Group is popular with around 40 members. Usually, on the third Thursday afternoon of the month, after the U3A coffee mornings, the cask ale enthusiasts meet up for an informal get together. We sample a range of cask ales in a variety of venues to support the pubs and the Campaign for Real Ale. The relevant information is sent to members in advance by email. The chosen pubs are informed to expect real ale drinkers  and to ensure cask ales are on tap.

Members are encouraged to become involved in designing itineraries, conducting the recce’s of pub venues & ales and leading the group.

We begin our meetings at the first venue, after lunch from 2:00pm onwards.

Convener: Ann Gyulai. To contact her, send an email email via the link above on this page.

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PAST OUTINGS

For 2026, we have visited The Old Ship, The White Cross, The Princes Head, The Cricketers, and The Railway Tavern in Richmond for our January outing (organised by Jean & Kevin). February was spent in the Shepherd Market area in Mayfair at The King’s Arms, Ye Grapes, The Chesterfield Arms, and The Audley Public House (organised by Phil) whilst March saw us visiting local pubs in Ealing (organised by Derek), The Castle, The New Inn, and The Rose & Crown. Our April outing (organised by Ken & Paul) is to The Bulls Head, The Steam Packet, and The Express Tavern in the Strand on the Green area.

Our outings in 2025 saw us visit The Edgar Wallace, The Temple, The George on the Strand, and The Seven Stars in Holborn, WC2 in January. In February we visited The Roebuck, The Packhorse & Talbot, the George IV, and The Tabard in Chiswick, W4, whilst March saw us in the Strand on the Green area at The Steam Packet, The Bell & Crown, and The Express Tavern. In April, we visited The Fox, Hanwell for their Beer Festival. We had two outings in May, we enjoyed Beers from the Wood at the Beer & Music festival (CAMRA & SPBW) in the Musical Museum, Brentford and went to the London Bridge area visiting The Woolpack, The Horseshoe Inn, The Barrow Boy and Banker, and The Mudlark. On a hot day in June we visited Fulham Reach going to the Distillers, The Blue Boat, and The Crabtree. July saw our usual visit to the Ealing Beer Festival in Walpole Park, W5, and in August we visited the Notting Hill Gate area and drank in the Prince Albert, The Sun in Splendour, The Prince Edward, and The Champion. For September, our outing was to the Sloane Square area visiting The Antelope, The Duke of Wellington, The Fox & Hounds, and The Orange. We had our annual City visit in October to the Betsy Trotwood, the Horseshoe, the Three Kings, and The Holy Tavern in Clerkenwell. We visited Notting Hill Gate again in November, this time going to The Windsor Castle, The Blue Stoops, and The Churchill Arms, whilst we rounded off the year with a December visit to The Rose & Crown, in South Ealing.

In 2024 we visited an old favourite the Express Tavern by Kew Bridge in January; in February, 3 pubs - the Bollo in S Acton, the Duke of Sussex and the Tabard in Turnham Green; the Drayton Court Hotel in W Ealing in March. From April, we changed the format of the group so we no longer included lunch in the first pub but instead started later to give group members time for lunch beforehand and we visited pubs in Ravenscourt Park W6 - The Thatched House, The Prince of Wales Townhouse, and The Salutation Inn. May saw us in Belgravia SW1 - The Star Tavern, The Horse and Groom, The Grenadier and in June we visited Hammersmith W6 - The Carpenter’s Arms, The Black Lion, The Old Ship, and The Dove. For July we were in Walpole Park W5 for the Ealing Beer Festival and we were also in this area (Ealing W5) in August at The Rose and Crown and The New Inn. For September we visited the Gloucester Road SW7 area (where we looked into The Stanhope Arms - too busy - and The Gloucester Arms - no real ale on - but did not stop) and visited The Queen’s Arms and The Builder’s Arms. October saw us travelling to Central London (E1) to visit The Williams Ale & Cider House, The Ten Bells, The Golden Heart, and The Commercial Tavern. We visited W2 (Paddington/Bayswater area) in November going to The Bear, The Sawyers Arms, The Victoria, and The Stablehand, and seeing some of the stables where the Hyde Park horses are housed. We finished the year with trips to local pubs The Viaduct, The Green, and The Fox in Hanwell in December.

2023 saw us visit: January - the Grosvenor, Hanwell; February - The Black Dog, Brentford; March - The Swan (Nicholsons) Hammersmith; April - The Drayton Court, West Ealing (Fullers) May - the Windsor and Eton Brewery, Windsor; June - The Express Tavern, Kew Bridge; July - the Ealing Beer Festival; August - The Fox, Hanwell; September - the Red Lion and Pineapple, Acton; October - a trip to some City of London pubs, EC1 (Sir Christopher Hatton, Leather Lane, The Mitre, The Bishops Finger); November - The Windsor Castle and the Uxbridge Arms in Notting Hill, W8.

For details of previous year's visits, see the relevant links below.

Links

• 50 Pubs in Brentford
• Beer Group outings 2017-18
• Beer group outings 2019 - 20
• Beer Investigation Group outings 2022
• Paddington pubs outing 2021
• Strand-on-the-Green History