London: Local Beverages

A copper-coloured premium bitter brewed by Fuller's at the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick since 1959. The ale takes its name from the pink wildflower that colonised London's wartime bombsites. Its malt-led profile is balanced by Target, Challenger and Northdown hops, and it remains one of the capital's most widely poured draught pulls.

London has brewed since Roman times, and its modern scene blends historic cask-ale pubs with a craft revival led by Bermondsey and Hackney breweries. The Kernel, Camden Town Brewery and Beavertown count among over 100 active breweries in the city. CAMRA, founded near London in 1971, continues to champion traditional cask-conditioned ale.

London dry gin mixed with tonic water and garnished with citrus or cucumber. Tonic was first added to gin by British officers in 19th-century India to mask the bitterness of anti-malarial quinine. London's gin heritage dates to the 18th-century Gin Craze and today supports over 30 active distilleries within the city.

A gin-based fruit cup created in 1840 by James Pimm at his London oyster bar near Poultry. Traditionally mixed with lemonade and garnished with cucumber, strawberries, orange and mint, it is inseparable from Wimbledon, Henley and Royal Ascot. Over 80,000 pints are sold during the Wimbledon Championships each year.

A robust blend of Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan black teas, traditionally served strong with milk. The blend was refined in the 1800s and is now Britain's staple daily beverage, consumed at a rate of roughly 100 million cups a day nationwide. Fortnum & Mason has supplied the Royal Household with tea since 1707.

A cocktail of vodka, fresh espresso, coffee liqueur and sugar syrup, shaken and served straight up with three coffee beans. The drink was invented by bartender Dick Bradsell at Fred's Club in Soho in the 1980s, reportedly after a supermodel requested something to wake her up and then mess her up.

Unfiltered, unpasteurised beer served from the cask at cellar temperature through a hand-pulled beer engine. Secondary fermentation continues in the cask, yielding natural carbonation. The Campaign for Real Ale, founded in 1971, safeguarded the tradition through the lager boom, and London has over 100 real-ale pubs listed in the Good Beer Guide.

Fermented apple juice ranging from bone-dry to sweet, produced mainly across Somerset, Herefordshire and Kent. Protected Geographical Indication status covers varieties including Kentish and Gloucestershire cider. London pubs serve both traditional farmhouse styles and modern craft ciders on draught, often alongside perry, its pear equivalent. Borough Market hosts dedicated cider bars and tastings year-round.

Gin, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup served over crushed ice with crème de mûre drizzled across the top. Dick Bradsell created the drink at Fred's Club in Soho in 1984, drawing on his Isle of Wight childhood memories of blackberry picking. It is now a recognised modern classic in bartending reference guides.

Black tea scented with bergamot citrus oil, named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey and Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. Twinings holds a claim to the original blend, commissioned at its Strand shop in the 1830s. It appears on most London afternoon-tea menus as a lighter alternative to English Breakfast.

Hand-crafted chocolate drinks built around a Knoopology menu of over 20 cocoa percentages, ranging from a 28% white to a 100% single-origin extra dark. Customers select chocolate strength, milk type and flavour additions such as sea salt, orange zest or chilli. Founded in Rye in 2013, Knoops now operates multiple London cafés.