This September sees the opening of The Blue Stoops, a new public house on Kensington Church Street, London, from the team behind Allsopp’s Brewery.
Founder Jamie Allsopp will open the pub in homage to the original Blue Stoops in Burton upon Trent, where his family brewed from 1730.
Samuel Allsopp, Jamie’s seven times great-grandfather, is revered as the inventor of the India Pale Ale (IPA) style, which he first brewed in a teapot in 1822. That ‘famous’ original Allsopp’s IPA will, of course, have pride of place on the pub’s bar.
In the 1850s, the first Blue Stoops was described as “so old no one knew of its having a beginning” before disappearing completely, with not even a picture of it surviving. This has left Jamie with the task of re-imagining the old home of the family business through a thoughtful rebuilding of its new Kensington home, aided by a set of yellowing plans unearthed in a local library.
The bar, with its handsome bespoke beer engines, will be the beating heart of The Blue Stoops. The Allsopp family found great success brewing and selling cask ale in the 19th century, and the keeping and serving of this uniquely English form of beer is Jamie’s obsession.
Cask ale sales plummeted during Covid when pubs closed and have struggled since, alongside the pub industry as a whole. The Blue Stoops’ mission is to act as a beacon for this healthy, probiotic form of natural beer, helping conserve it for the next generation.
To that end, Jamie has commissioned the manufacture of unique beer engines with high ‘swan necks’, allowing the pumping by hand of these ales from the cellar in a theatrical manner. Three Allsopp’s cask ales will be on the bar: Pale Ale, IPA, and Best Bitter, with a fourth handpump reserved for ale produced by friends of the brewery.
Jamie has recruited a sympathetic chef-guide in Lorcan Spiteri, founder of Caravel, the much-loved barge-restaurant on the Regent’s Canal. This young chef brings valuable experience and creativity honed at Caravel, and also during formative stints in the kitchens at Quo Vadis and Rochelle Canteen.
Experienced pub operator Charlie McVeigh, founder of The Draft House group of craft beer pubs, is assisting Jamie with the building and launch of The Blue Stoops, which will open in September.
Jamie said: “It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to revive my family’s lost beers, and I’m delighted to open our first pub in 90 years.
“Allsopp’s beers are incredibly drinkable, and they deserve their spot not just at the taps of The Blue Stoops, but in public houses across the country.
“As with any good pub, food is an integral part of the experience, and we are so thrilled to be working with Lorcan on the menu. He is rooted in British food, and is bringing a selection of true pub classics to our dining room.”
