A Pint Of Hops is the best place in West London to get beer

Are you a keen fan of beers, ales and IPAs, know the difference between them or looking to get into the beer drinking (non alcoholic included) lifestyle, plus based in Acton, West London? IndieBloom welcome to you, A Pint Of Hops🍻

Beer o clock

Situated on the showbiz strip on Acton’s Churchfield Road, being local to us and frequenting the store to purchase various beers and stouts, (Delirium - Belgian beers FTW 🇧🇪) we chatted to Marius. Our first question being, ‘how did A Pint Of Hops shop come about?’.

It’s a mixture of: Wanting to change jobs, I really love beer, I couldn’t get much good beer close to where I lived. Many times I’ve crossed London for it where I met folks that lived West. So over time it made me think, so eventually an idea started building up and I took the steps and went ahead to open a beer shop.

Marius of A Pint Of Hops

Cheers

Beer has always been a popular pastime, especially with craft beers and IPAs being in many pubs, shops and bars. We asked what beers (with cider being sold also) are popular with customers at A Pint Of Hops? ‘Pale ales & lagers as they are easy on the palate for many customers, super drinkable in the summer but also in the colder months. Sometimes simplicity is the key.’ 🔑

Things aren’t always so simple, especially with having your own store, Marius explains the challenges he’s had to overcome.

The customers. There’s a different story for each one, from your easy to please, to your picky and difficult, to your aggressive and rude one. Beer is meant to make people happy, but not always. It’s a tough industry, working with people is not easy.

You can say that again 😔

Another recent trend - non/low-alcoholic beverages. We wanted to know a beer experts opinion on them.

They have their place, I don’t consume them much. I visit from time to time just so I will know what I’m talking about to the customers.

In the past 5 years I must say the AF&NA (alcohol free and non - alcoholic) beers have become a big player at the table in the craft beer industry, it tastes better and more and more breweries coming about. Also loads of investment and support from smaller independent shops and pubs to your big supermarkets. We stock a great range at the shop. They are here to stay!

West London’s Finest

Being a beer lover we were keen to find out if Marius plans to make his own alcohol. ‘Not at the moment, honestly I’ve never felt the need as like other beer enthusiasts. I’ve realised from the start that there’s so many great breweries out there that do a good job, I just love to talk about their great beers and drink them.’

Working with and being around beer sounds like a pretty cool days work, right? Below is the reality.

The phone is my PC so I will be doing loads of things from admin work on the till system, social media, emails and phone calls maybe edit some photos for social media, this is mostly before I get to the shop.

Weekdays will be deliveries and some happen to be before 12 noon, so unpack and restock the fridges and shelves. After, get the shop ready for customers, when we get drinking in customers it’s quite nice as you can have a chat the day goes quick. At the end of the day, a quick tidy up and home-time. Tomorrow another day, in most cases similar but with different customers.

But it’s all fun because you work with beer.

Fun indeed 😊 With all this fun we wanted to know Marius’ favourite beer and why? 

I thought it was a pale ale but it’s lager, especially the German & Czech styles. Even though it’s an easy style to make but few can do it right. That’s why the German and Czech breweries are considered the best at making these styles with some breweries doing it for centuries. I must say the modern craft breweries are getting better at making lagers, which is a bonus.

We learnt some things there! Which leads to the process on deciding what to stock and sell at A Pint of Hops.

First you have to keep the fast selling beers, your core, your easy drink beers, pale ale, IPA & lagers as that’s what’s paying the bills all year round. Second you get in your seasonal beers and speciality. For e.g. speciality- Belgian beers / Dark ales and imperial ales, sour beers etc. Seasonal - Belgian Christmas & winter beers / Oktoberfest beers / January AF&NA beers etc.

Beer 365 days a year.

Last round

With a busy beer schedule, the question of ‘do you have any events or exhibitions you’re going to be at soon?’ was asked. ‘Nothing planned for 2023 but would like to get involved outside of the shop a bit more, collaborate maybe with a brewery or some local businesses.’ Who else in Acton wants to collaborate?

To maintain this schedule, Marius talks about the best methods for promoting A Pint Of Hops on social media to keep the followers updated. ‘You want to keep your followers in the loop as to what’s happening at the shop and any upcoming events. Post any special beers that have arrived at the shop that week, the new beer on tap has become popular so I try to add it on the social media platforms all the time.’

What next for A Pint Of Hops?

A larger place has always been in mind but at the same time a second place will work as well. As we have customers in other parts of London that would love a beer shop down their way. Also moving might be an option in the future, preferably still West but you never know where that ideal place might be.

We hope to continue popping into our local for speciality beers (and stouts)🙌

A Pint of Hops on 73 Churchfield Road, Acton, London, W3 6AX

Some final encouraging words, ‘continue writing about small businesses as that will be a testimony for someone else to start a small business!’. That’s a pleasing statement 😊

Are you in and around Acton for the latest and local goings on? Checked out ActOne Cinema? Indulged in ice cream from Bears? Sit down, relax, eat some snacks, buy some merch or vouchers, enjoy a pint and discuss with other like-minded alcohol aficionados. Please do remember to drink responsibly also!

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