See how Gin is made in London

"The history of London’s gin industry is peppered with tales of small-scale producers boiling up heady spirits in tiny sheds." THE INDEPENDENT

City of London Distillery

Tucked away behind Fleet Street in the historic Bride Lane, an area steeped with distilling history. Visitors can take a tour of the venue - the first working distillery to open in the City for over 200 years - or book in for a more in-depth master class.

Master Distiller Jamie Baxter crafts a a gin (City of London Dry Gin) in a copper still which is framed behind huge glass windows. Around 200 bottles of gin are produced per distillation run, with each bottle labelled with its batch number.

During the day, the distillery opens its doors for the Gin Experience which gives members of the public the rare opportunity to see stills up close, watch a working distillery in action, and visualise the process of making a spirit before sampling each of them.

Opening hours

Tours take place every weekday, hourly from 12 noon-3pm.
Bar open 12noon-late
Tours cost £8 per person, no booking required.
Bar is FREE entry.

Visit City of London Distillery website

The Ginstitute

Housed tthe first floor of The Portobello Star – a building which has served beverages on and off since possibly as long ago as 1740- The Ginstitute boasts: a small re-creation of a Victorian Gin Palace Bar- complete with a staggering selection of Gins, cabinets full of interesting historical Gin artifacts, including many antique bottles, vintage advertising pieces, archive materials from the most famous distillers of London Gin, adverts from the C19th and C20th.

The Ginstitute is an independent home for Gin in London, it plays host to master classes and tasting sessions by some of the greatest names in modern gin, it is a beautiful, intimate venue for a party for any Gin lover. It's perfect for a quick afternoon visit if you’re shopping on the historic markets of Portobello and fancy a little reviver.

Opening hours

Sunday - Thursday: 11am til 11:30pm
Friday & Saturday: 11am til 12:30am

Visit the Ginstitute website

No 3. Dry London Gin

The gin itself is distilled at one of Holland's oldest gin distillery's with over 300 years of experience.Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant; having traded from the same shop for over 300 years has changed little since it was opened. The shop is little changed and traces of its history, including important documents and artefacts, are on view. No.3 Gin stays true to the roots of London Dry Gin.  Put simply it is a ‘Taste of Tradition’.

Opening hours

Mon - Fri: 10am to 6pm
Sat: 10am to 5pm
Sun / Public Holidays: Closed

Visit No 3. Dry London Gin website

Sipsmith Independent Spirits

The “sip-smiths” to celebrate the craft of distillation and our artisanal methods. Spirits by hand in genuinely small batches – just a few hundred bottles a time. It is one of the only gins in the world made using the traditional 'one-shot' method, rather than as a concentrate. 

Tour Times

Every Wednesday 6.30-8pm.
Visit Sipsmith Distillery website

Other gin related posts:
- It's Gin O'clock
- Hogarth's Beer Lane and Gin Lane engravings
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Visit All Hallows by the Tower Church, London

If you are intending to visit the Tower of London or Tower Bridge this Easter then make some time to visit All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in London. It houses a C7th Saxon stone arch with recycled Roman tiles, the oldest surviving piece of church fabric in the city. The church has been battered and bruised and has benefited from periodic restoration throughout the years. It is a time capsule of history of the church itself and the City of London. 

All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in London

Buried at the Church

Both John Fisher and the noble Thomas More were both beheaded at the Tower of London in 1535 before being temporarily buried here. 

Archbishop William Laud was found guilty of "endeavouring to subvert the laws, to overthrow the Protestant religion" and was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1645 before being buried here.

The Great Fire of London, 1666

The church narrowly survived the Great Fire of London and owes its survival to Admiral William Penn, father of William Penn of Pensylvania fame who had been christened at the church some 22 yrs earlier. The Admiral had his men from a nearby naval yard demolish the surrounding buildings to create firebreaks. Samuel Pepys is known to have climbed the church's spire to watch the progress of the blaze and what he described as "the saddest sight of desolation".

Font History

One of the most beautiful and important artefacts in the church is the wonderfully font cover carved from limewood. Grinling Gibbons was a master sculptor and wood carver who had worked for Christopher Wren on the choir stalls in St Paul's Cathedral. He was later appointed as master wood carver to George I. For this intricate font cover Grinling Gibbons received the sum of £12. The font itself was carved by hand by a Sicilian prisoner-of-war named Tulipani, and is a memorial to the tunnellers of the Royal Engineers.

The Crypt Museum

The church was built on the site of a former C2nd Roman domestic house which was discovered in 1929. The crypt museum houses a collection of both Roman and Saxon artefacts, church plate and ancient registers dating back to the C16th.

Visit the All Hallows by the Tower website for a virtual tour and opening times.

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