More than 150 beers are on offer at an unusual boozer, but the traditional chatty pub experience remains.
Wishful Drinking, in High Street, Rickmansworth, describes itself as a “bottle shop and taproom”, offering something a little different to the larger bars.
Founded in 2019, its location inside a small shop unit immediately sets the business apart and once inside the sheer range of bottles lining the wall demonstrates it is something special.
Owner Steve Harlow said: “For a long time, you just had the big breweries, but in America they had this idea of brewing with more quality hops and equipment and that made its way over here.
“We saw that and thought that was an opportunity to bring that over… and also we just love beer.”
The 65-year-old characterises the variety of people passing through the doors as “beer curious”, those who “either understand what’s happening in the craft beer world or are interested in something different they can get from the big brewing chains”.
“We like to talk more about the beer and people are a lot friendlier and like to talk to each other, so in that sense its more like a more traditional pub – it’s friendlier,” Steve, who lives in Croxley Green, added.
“People who come in like to know about the beers and know about the hops.”
There is plenty of seating, but as a bottle shop it also services a significant number of customers coming in to buy drinks they can take away and have at home.
The ‘most popular’ page on the website includes a Belgian strong ale at the top, followed by a tripel, helles lager, dark ale, dubbel, and a radler.
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Only one brewery features twice in the top ten, demonstrating the variety of both the available options and customers’ choices.
Of the roughly 150 beers on offer at any one time, only around 40 to 50 are permanent fixtures while the rest will come and go because the independent breweries it stocks are usually experimenting with new ideas.
“Once that batch is gone, it will never come back,” Steve explained.
