We get asked about the Camden Town Brewery tour a lot — usually by people who've done ours on the Bermondsey Beer Mile and are curious how North London's best-known modern brewery compares. Camden Hells is one of the most recognisable craft-adjacent lagers in the country, and the brewery's home under the railway arches in Camden is a genuinely popular visitor stop. Here's an honest, fair guide to what the tour actually involves, what it costs, how to book, and how it stacks up against a guided crawl like ours. As always with any brewery we don't run ourselves, check the official Camden Town Brewery site for the current format, exact prices and opening times before you book.
What is Camden Town Brewery?
Camden Town Brewery started life in 2010 as a small operation under the arches near Camden Town station, built its name on Camden Hells Lager, and grew fast enough to be acquired by AB InBev in 2015 — a fact that still divides opinion among craft beer purists. Whatever you make of the ownership, the taproom and brewery site in Camden remains a genuinely well-run visitor attraction, and it's a fair, popular introduction to how a modern London brewery operates.
What does the tour include?
Camden Town Brewery has historically offered guided tours of its brewhouse beneath the arches, walking visitors through the brewing process — mashing, boiling, fermentation and packaging — followed by tutored tastings of the core range in the taproom, usually anchored around Camden Hells. Formats, running times and exactly what's poured do change from season to season, so check the official site for the current tour structure before you book rather than relying on any one write-up, including this one.
What we can say with confidence, having sent plenty of our own guests there afterwards: it's a slick, well-organised visit, the taproom itself has a good buzzy atmosphere under the arches, and it makes for an easy half-day out if you're already around Camden Market.
How much does it cost?
Single-brewery tours in London, including tours of this kind, typically run from around £20–£30 per person, though exact pricing depends on the tour type and changes over time. Always check the official Camden Town Brewery site for current prices rather than budgeting off an old figure. For comparison, our own guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour is £49 per person, runs 2–3.5 hours and includes a tutored tasting at every one of four taprooms — a different kind of day out at a different price point, and worth weighing up alongside a single-brewery visit.
How long does it last?
Single-brewery tours generally run two to four hours, including the tasting. That's a fraction of the time you'd spend on a guided crawl across multiple breweries — ours runs 2–3.5 hours precisely because it's designed to cover four taprooms rather than one brewhouse in depth. Neither approach is "better"; they suit different afternoons.
Do you need to book in advance?
Yes. Tour slots at popular breweries like this one are limited and weekend dates sell out, particularly in summer, so book ahead through the official channel rather than turning up on the day hoping for a space. The same is true of any guided group tour, including ours — for groups, book early, especially for weekends.
Is it good for beginners?
Generally, yes. A well-known beer like Camden Hells is a friendly, familiar anchor for anyone new to brewery visits, and a single-site tour is a gentle, structured way to understand how beer is actually made without the choice-overload of a multi-brewery crawl. If you want a first brewery visit before diving into London's wider independent scene, this is a reasonable place to start.
Camden Town Brewery vs the Bermondsey Beer Mile: what's the real difference?
This is the question we actually get asked, so here's the honest comparison rather than a sales pitch:
- Depth vs breadth. A Camden tour goes deep on one brewhouse and one beer family. A guided Bermondsey Beer Mile crawl goes broad — four independent taprooms, a huge range of styles, in a single afternoon.
- Independence. Camden Town Brewery has been part of a global brewing group since 2015. Every taproom on the Beer Mile — Southwark Brewing Co, Anspach & Hobday, The Kernel, Brew By Numbers and the rest — remains independently owned, which matters to a lot of craft beer fans.
- Group size. A single-brewery tour usually caps numbers tightly. We run private groups from 6 to 60+, which makes a guided Mile crawl a much easier fit for stags, hens, birthdays and work socials — see our private & group tours.
- What's included. Check carefully whether tastings are bundled into the ticket price or charged separately — this varies by brewery and by tour type. Our own tour includes a beer at every one of the six stops as standard.
- Location. Camden is North London, close to Camden Market, and worth combining with a day exploring that end of the city. Bermondsey is South East London, walkable from London Bridge, and sits inside the country's densest strip of independent breweries — see our Beer Mile map and route guide for the full layout.
Plenty of our own guests have done both and rate them differently rather than ranking one above the other — Camden for a focused look at how a big modern brewery runs, the Mile for a sociable afternoon across several small independents.
What actually happens on a guided crawl, for comparison
If you haven't done a multi-brewery tour before, ours works like this: we meet at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid Street, at your chosen start time, and spend the next 2–3.5 hours walking the arches with a local guide, stopping at four independent taprooms with a beer included at every one. It's less about the machinery of any single brewhouse and more about tasting widely, hearing the stories behind each arch, and finishing the day having actually met the scene rather than read about it. We've been running it since 2014, with 5+ TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence.
Planning a visit to both?
If you're spending a few days in London and want the full picture of the city's beer scene, doing Camden Town Brewery on one day and our Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour on another gives you a proper heritage-vs-craft comparison — see our wider roundup of the best brewery tours in London for more options, including Fuller's Griffin Brewery in Chiswick. Pair the Mile with our free self-guided heritage walk through Southwark's brewing history or our Saturday cheese, meat & beer tour to make a full day of it, and see our Ultimate Beer Mile Guide for every brewery on the route in depth.
Good to know before you go (either tour)
- Bring ID. Brewery tours and tastings are an over-18s activity and you may be asked to prove your age.
- Eat first. Tastings add up quickly — line your stomach beforehand, whichever tour you pick.
- Book ahead. Weekend slots at popular breweries sell out fast, ours included.
- Check what's included. Always confirm whether beer is bundled into the ticket price before you turn up.
- Comfortable shoes. Camden's arches and the Bermondsey Mile both involve a fair bit of standing and walking.
Gift a brewery tour
Whichever style of tour someone prefers, a brewery visit is a memorable present. Our gift vouchers are delivered instantly by email and never expire, so the recipient can pick whichever date — and whichever tour of ours — suits them best.
Fancy more of Camden after the brewery?
The link below is an affiliate link: if you book through it we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only suggest things we'd happily do ourselves.
- Camden Pub Crawl (5 venues, drink deals) — an easy, sociable way to see Camden's bars and clubs once you've done the brewery, with skip-the-queue entry and drink deals.