I first visited All Good Beer, located a five-minute walk from my flat in an indoor market in East London, when it hosted the London Craft Beer Festival’s after party last August. It was around midnight on a balmy summer night, the wait to get a beer was long, and it seemed everyone from the industry was there, sitting on the few outdoor tables, the floor, and each other.
That vision feels a world away from the beer industry of right now. Libby Elliott and her co-founder and partner Elliot Batchelor have been scrambling to keep their bottle shop afloat, like so many beer businesses. Since the U.K. government’s “strong advice” to stay away from drinking establishments (as well as restaurants, theaters, and damn near everything else), sales, trade, and morale have plummeted.
“It’s emotional,” Libby says. “It’s all crumbling to the ground.”
Like so many others, though, she’s rallying. I placed an order for some beer, cider, and a bottle of wine this morning, and as dusk began to fall she knocked on my door with a box of booze and a surprisingly bright smile. Mine was the first delivery on her run—the basket on her bike was loaded to the brim—but she stayed only long enough to ask how I was doing, chat for a second, and maintain the recommended distance.
In that moment, she felt like a barometer for the whole industry: a flurry of frantic activity, smiling through the fear, and doing what she can.
Words + PhotoLily Waite