Earls Court, Great British Beer Festival, August 3rd 2006.

Duncan Sambrook is sitting with two University friends in the braying crowd of GBBF. Scanning the beer list for a locally brewed beer in London, all they could find was a small brewery in Chiswick. Surprising at the the time there were a mere four breweries operating in London with Youngs Brewery in Wandsworth (more on that later) closing down in summer 2006. After one too many beers, Duncan and his friends hatched a plan to bring brewing back to the heart of London.

But it wasn’t until 2008 that Sambrook’s Brewery finally opened it’s doors. After a chance meeting with brewing entrepreneur David Welsh, and a crash course in brewing fundamentals in the far away land of Sunderland, Duncan finally brewed his first batch of Wandle ale in a converted photography studio in Battersea. Sambrook’s brewery was born. He had arrived.