A short train ride from Fenchurch Street is the Mile and a Third. After passing post-industrial docks, mercurial mud and ruined castles, the c2c train stops at Westcliff-on-Sea, at the foot of a sweeping hill: Hamlet Court Road, the erstwhile Bond Street of Southend. Retaining the texture of a Victorian highway that hasn’t been first swamped and then gutted by the rapacious tides of high street globalisation, this road has always maintained its own air of transhistorical and rugged glamour. What better place then, at number 67, for Westcliff’s premier micropub and bottle shop, which is also CAMRA’s South East Essex branch Pub of the Year for the fourth time in a row?
Aptly named in honour of the nearby pleasure pier that Southend is so famous for (being a mile and a third long), this pub is not only a beacon of local gaiety but somewhere you can definitely buy measures in thirds (if not, alas, miles). “The name did come to us after a few beers,” admits owner Andy Ferguson when I met him one Friday afternoon in February. Once a classic Essex commuter, Southend-born Andy began his career in insurance in the City, while his twin brother Nick worked in IT. Being so central allowed them to nurture a love of real ale in the numerous watering holes peppering the square mile. “Around 2007, we drank a lot of real ale in the Ship by Gracechurch Street,” Andy recalls, but it wasn’t until BrewDog started appearing on the pumps that the twins had an idea. “It was a game changer,” says Andy who, along with Nick, was one of thousands who became an EFP (equity for punks) shareholder. Love them or loathe them, BrewDog transformed Britain’s alcohol landscape, introducing drinkers old and new to a revised notion of IPA.
At around the same time, the twins started volunteering at CAMRA’s Rochford Beer Festival, which set them in good stead for learning the craft of beer, as well as doing the rounds of various regional events around the country. Andy said, “They taught us a lot of things, like how to look after cask ales,” which was essential gnosis for their own pub, the idea for which began germinating in 2018. “We were drinking in various craft beer bars around the country and we thought ‘we’d like to do this!’ And it came to a point where we’d both just left our jobs and we had a bit of capital and we thought ‘if we don’t do this now, we never will’!”
The Hamlet Court Road site was probably the third or fourth place they looked at but, as Andy describes, on viewing it, “it just felt right.” The lease was quickly agreed and they opened on 8 March 2019, with significant help from another Westcliff micropub, the West Road Tap, and Mawson’s in Southend East; “We found a gap in the market in this area. But if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be doing this. They gave us a lot of help and it was clear that having another micro pub in Westcliff would bring custom for both bars.” While the Mile and a Third is now one of four in the newly created City of Southend, its location is utterly unique. Situated on the northwest corner of the quadrivium intersection, the pub has huge windows, floor to ceiling, that give onto sweeping views of the glittering Thames Estuary down the hill. “We love Westcliff,” said Andy. “We get to see everything from these windows, especially the great characters that go past.” It is true that Hamlet Court Road is not short on character(s). I have often sat there with an afternoon two thirds of Mikkeller Kölsch and am gladdened to see a coterie of familiar familiars navigating the same street time after time. On one occasion, I was sure I saw William Burroughs walk past with the Racing News, but it was probably just a brilliant look-a-like. “The pub’s location is also great when we’re there’s games at Southend United,” says Andy. “A lot a lot of away fans pass us on their way from the station to the Roots Hall.”
Mine’s a 2/3s! The author with pub owner Andy (photo by James Sirrell)
When it comes to the menu, Andy goes the extra mile for quality over quantity. “Our customers seem to prefer pale and gold ales, which we will sell easily in a week. You’ve got to have a balance between session strength and stronger ones. People don’t mind dark beers being a bit stronger. We’re not talking ‘Imperial’ strength, mind. Any drinker
should tell you: you work up with ABVs!” laughs Andy. “We will always have a dark ale and a cask ale, especially with our history with CAMRA. On the craft side, Neon Raptor, Azvex and Cloudwater always sell really well,” Andy adds. “And we like to use local Essex breweries, too: Mighty Oak, Crouch Vale and Wibblers.” The nearby Leigh-on-Sea brewery have two tap rooms of their own and so is already well represented outside the Westcliff purlieu.
The Mile and a Third hold semi-regular tap ‘versus’ events that focus on two breweries from the same area: recently, bar favourite Polly’s Brew and Basqueland Brew went head-to-head in celebration of north east Spain’s craft prowess. Andy is also aware of what he calls Westcliff’s inherent ‘grittiness’. He always makes sure there’s a lager on tap. “I get someone coming in every day asking for a lager,” smiles Andy, “we learnt that from day one. People in Westcliff just want a lager sometimes!” Well, the odd lager never hurt anyone and this is the great thing, for the Mile and a Third, with its community spirit, combines at once a nod to CAMRA tradition, a respect for the locale and its punters, and a protean showcase of quaffable craft from around the world. “There are so many breweries that it is very rare for us and West Road Tap to be serving the same breweries, so it makes a kind of mini scene, too,” Andy adds.
Andy and Nick go the extra mile to make sure their punters feel very at home. “This is really important to us. We know a lot of our customers by name and we chat to them. We’ve built up a good loyal following.” I can attest to this, having spent many long hours on the premises, and I’m always welcome, whether reading and writing in the afternoon for my now-completed PhD (a lino print from which I am proud to say graces the walls of the pub) or enjoying a more sociable occasion. The print depicts an enlarged cuneiform script, roughly translating ‘The Odd Lager’ into ancient Akkadian, which Pilsner fans will know is an old advertising tag line of Holsten. However, Andy’s fondness for the image relates more to its red and black colouring with its association to the Metallica song of the same name; evidence of the twin’s verging on obsessional love of Metal music. “Customers are also welcome to bring in their own vinyl and play it on our decks,” says Andy, an idea which was initially sparked off by a Record Store Day initiative.
So, if you’re looking to ‘leave the capital’ for a day out, why not head down to Westcliff-on-Sea and be sure to make the Mile and a Third your first port of call.
Sophie Sleigh-Johnson