Battersea Brewery Substation

Location: 8 Almond Road

Opening hours: Saturday 1200-2300 (but may be closed during the winter months)

Other days: Friday 1600-2300

Official site: https://batterseabrew.co.uk/

Last updated: 14/07/2025

8 Almond Road has a bit of history behind it – since our first visit to the Mile back in 2014, we’ve seen three different breweries in this teeny tiny space. It started off life as the Partizan brewery, but by the time this site started up in 2018 they’d moved round the corner to bigger premises. Spartan moved in in their place, and were happy enough with an arrangement where most of the space was taken up with brewtanks and a couple of taps, with limited space inside for sitting and drinking (although they’ve always had a few seats outside on the road itself, shared with their immediate neighbours).

Spartan were always delightful to visit, but somewhat predictably the economic shitstorm of the early twenties wasn’t something they could survive. So now we have yet another brewery at number 8, but one that’s already an established name. Battersea Brewery have had a decent little place out by the power station for the last few years, and they’re now setting up this secondary location to brew some beers and introduce themselves to the Bermondsey regulars.

The problem with 8 Almond Road as a location is that despite being small, it’s also really draughty, particularly in the winter months. On our December 2023 visit, they had the shutters down and just one half-open door to indicate that the place was still open – it would have been easy to be distracted by the brighter, noisier Three Hills next door and pass Substation by.

These days – although we’ve not been able to find any official confirmation of this – it looks like they’re closing the taproom during the winter and just opening up when it’s possible to sit outside without freezing. When it’s open, it’s definitely one to visit: they’ve got a few taps of both cask and keg available, plus a fun upstairs balcony where you can look down on the tanks preparing the next batch of beers for you. They also have a dog wearing a brewery collar.

Meanwhile, the noisy neighbours of Three Hills have gone, as has literally every other brewery operating on Almond Road. What with that and the closure of Fourpure, there must be a temptation for Mile walkers to just stop at the Kernel and call it a day. Don’t do that. Small is beautiful: it’s what the Mile used to be about, so celebrate it while it’s there.

Now walk 950m to Small Beer ----->

<----- or go back 1.1km to The Kernel

or return to the home page

Comments

[James]

Surely this gets an asterisk, as they're brewing on site?

[Colin]

Temporarily closed for a winter break at the end of November 2024. Reopening in February, according to their instagram

[Colin]

February is now apparently 12th April.