Ale lovers toast success of new Battersea brewery

Brewing has returned to central London three years after the closure of its last major beer-making site.

Real ale enthusiasts hope the success of Sambrook's Brewery in Battersea signals a renaissance for one of the capital's oldest industries after four decades of decline.

Former City accountant Duncan Sambrook raised £350,000 to build the brewery and is producing a traditional bitter called Wandle Ale. It is the first beer to be brewed close to the centre of London since Young's shut its 400-year-old Ram brewery in Wandsworth in September 2006.

London's only large breweries are in the suburbs — Fuller's Griffin Brewery in Chiswick and Budweiser's Stag brewery in Mortlake, which is to close next year. There are also smaller sites in Walthamstow (Brodie's Brewery), Greenwich (Meantime Brewing Company) and Twickenham (Twickenham Fine Ales).

Mr Sambrook, 31, who is selling up to 9,000 pints a week, decided to open a brewery when visiting the Earl's Court beer festival in 2006. He said: "I was there with a few friends enjoying the beers on offer and I suddenly thought hang on a minute there are all these great micro-breweries around the country but almost nothing in London'."

He gave up his £85,000-a-year job at accountancy firm Deloitte to set up the brewery near the Thames and Wandle rivers and teamed up with brewer David Welsh, 60, who has 30 years' experience in the trade.