Le Gothique Restaurant and Bar

As with previous contributors my experience of this very impressive place is limited to a Beer Festival. The building is indeed impressive being in the neo Gothic style with a rich history, all of which is listed inside. The Beer Festival is held in the courtyard, surrounded by the now private flats either side and the restaurant, function room at the end. The Halloween Festival I attended was well organised, had excellently kept beer but was rather pricey for us from the shires.

A bit difficult to judge as I’ve only been here for the beer festivals. And what a great setting for a beer festival it is. Located in a huge neo-gothic Victorian pile that was built as an asylum and had a number of intriguing uses before it fell into disrepair and was rescued from oblivion in the nick of time. Since then it’s been painstakingly restored over a number of years. Outside festival times there’s a bar and restaurant with a number of handpumps but I don’t know what the range is like. Should really visit to find out.

Le Gothique restaurant and bar is off a small courtyard in an impressive Victorian pile which has served variously as an orphanage, a hospital, an MI5 / MI6 interrogation centre (Rudolph Hess was a “guest” at one stage) and a school. In its current incarnation it houses apartments, workshops, a drama school and Le Gothique, which hosts two beer festivals each year. I was really impressed with festival – it was small and friendly but had an excellent range of beers on offer, mainly from London breweries, as well as ciders. We sat upstairs in a little gallery above the main bar. I think this is usually the dining area. The food on offer at the festival was basic (burgers, chips and the like) but good. I’d like to visit at a non-festival time. We got a feel for what it may normally be like as we were leaving; it was early evening and the place was filling up with a youngish crowd (all drinking beer rather than wine or alcopops, I noticed) there for the live music. (Last visited 24 July 2014).

Visited on Thurs 25th October for the Halloween beer festival which was excellent! Trying to base this review (in terms of selection) more on the beers you’d find at the bar on an ordinary day, not a fest. Set in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Patriotic building (Grade II listed and utilised by MI6 interrogators in WWII) this forms a splendid backdrop for a few beers just 3 miles outside of central London. Great rambling building with many corridors and the seats and tables inside are a nice mix that work well with the building. I wouldn’t come here specifically as a beer destination but definately take in a festival, 100+ beers, ciders and some interesting ones too (cask of Fuller Res No.2 from 2010 on this visit!) 15 minutes walk from Clapham Junction or the Wandsworth stations. There’s also a bus from just outside Le Gothique that take you to CLJ.

Le Gothique’s biannual beer festivals are not to be missed. The restaurant’s located on the grounds of a Victorian building complex. The atmosphere is cheery and quite unique. The beer selection at the restaurant is pretty modest, and I wouldn’t travel out of the way to visit here. Their festival lineup, however, is most impressive (100+ beers on cask). Drinking in the beautiful courtyard of this complex is a great experience. I heartily recommend a visit during festival time.

A nice little restaurant/pub set within a charming, historic building in Wandsworth Common. On normal days the pub has a relatively small beer selection but a nice food menu, and also a nice wine list. But when this place hosts its beer festival (at least twice yearly) it is one of the best places in London to grab a beer. Truly, the atmosphere in the courtyard during the festival is one-of-a-kind. I’ve never been here when the festival isn’t running and I think it would be a nice place, though certainly not the same as at festival time. Try to time your visit to coincide with one of the festivals, which are generally in late March and late October.