{"id":3532,"date":"2023-05-31T12:20:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3532"},"modified":"2023-05-31T12:20:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:20:41","slug":"going-the-extra-mile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2023\/05\/31\/going-the-extra-mile\/","title":{"rendered":"Going the extra mile"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019s premier micropub and bottle shop, which is also CAMRA\u2019s South East Essex branch Pub of the Year for the fourth time in a row?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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). \u201cThe name did come to us after a few beers,\u201d 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. \u201cAround 2007, we drank a lot of real ale in the Ship by Gracechurch Street,\u201d Andy recalls, but it wasn\u2019t until BrewDog started appearing on the pumps that the twins had an idea. \u201cIt was a game changer,\u201d 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\u2019s alcohol landscape, introducing drinkers old and new to a revised notion of IPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around the same time, the twins started volunteering at CAMRA\u2019s 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, \u201cThey taught us a lot of things, like how to look after cask ales,\u201d which was essential gnosis for their own pub, the idea for which began germinating in 2018. \u201cWe were drinking in various craft beer bars around the country and we thought \u2018we\u2019d like to do this!\u2019 And it came to a point where we\u2019d both just left our jobs and we had a bit of capital and we thought \u2018if we don\u2019t do this now, we never will\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hamlet Court Road site was probably the third or fourth place they looked at but, as Andy describes, on viewing it, \u201cit just felt right.\u201d 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\u2019s in Southend East; \u201cWe found a gap in the market in this area. But if it wasn\u2019t for them, we wouldn\u2019t 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.\u201d 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. \u201cWe love Westcliff,\u201d said Andy. \u201cWe get to see everything from these windows, especially the great characters that go past.\u201d 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 K\u00f6lsch 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. \u201cThe pub\u2019s location is also great when we\u2019re there\u2019s games at Southend United,\u201d says Andy. \u201cA lot a lot of away fans pass us on their way from the station to the Roots Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mine\u2019s a 2\/3s! The author with pub owner Andy (photo by James Sirrell)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the menu, Andy goes the extra mile for quality over quantity. \u201cOur customers seem to prefer pale and gold ales, which we will sell easily in a week. You\u2019ve got to have a balance between session strength and stronger ones. People don\u2019t mind dark beers being a bit stronger. We\u2019re not talking \u2018Imperial\u2019 strength, mind. Any drinker <\/p>\n\n\n\n

should tell you: you work up with ABVs!\u201d laughs Andy. \u201cWe 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,\u201d Andy adds. \u201cAnd we like to use local Essex breweries, too: Mighty Oak, Crouch Vale and Wibblers.\u201d The nearby Leigh-on-Sea brewery have two tap rooms of their own and so is already well represented outside the Westcliff purlieu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mile and a Third hold semi-regular tap \u2018versus\u2019 events that focus on two breweries from the same area: recently, bar favourite Polly\u2019s Brew and Basqueland Brew went head-to-head in celebration of north east Spain\u2019s craft prowess. Andy is also aware of what he calls Westcliff\u2019s inherent \u2018grittiness\u2019. He always makes sure there\u2019s a lager on tap. \u201cI get someone coming in every day asking for a lager,\u201d smiles Andy, \u201cwe learnt that from day one. People in Westcliff just want a lager sometimes!\u201d 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. \u201cThere 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,\u201d Andy adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy and Nick go the extra mile to make sure their punters feel very at home. \u201cThis is really important to us. We know a lot of our customers by name and we chat to them. We\u2019ve built up a good loyal following.\u201d I can attest to this, having spent many long hours on the premises, and I\u2019m 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 \u2018The Odd Lager\u2019 into ancient Akkadian, which Pilsner fans will know is an old advertising tag line of Holsten. However, Andy\u2019s 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\u2019s verging on obsessional love of Metal music. \u201cCustomers are also welcome to bring in their own vinyl and play it on our decks,\u201d says Andy, an idea which was initially sparked off by a Record Store Day initiative.
So, if you\u2019re looking to \u2018leave the capital\u2019 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<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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