{"id":33460,"date":"2026-05-11T08:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/33460\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T08:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:39:15","slug":"the-fetishisation-of-guinness-is-ruining-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/33460\/","title":{"rendered":"The fetishisation of Guinness is ruining London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Guinness \/ Luke Stackpoole<\/p>\n

When you visit London<\/a>, there are some things you simply can\u2019t ignore, many of which have become so associated with the city that they\u2019ve become a stereotype. Whether that\u2019s red phone boxes, teens on bikes doing wheelies down Oxford Street or increasingly, Guinness.<\/p>\n

Yes, that Guinness, the famous Irish stout, once strongly associated with Irish identity and working-class boozers, now dominates swathes of London\u2019s drinking culture. What was once a pint has become a performance, a statement, and let\u2019s be honest, a problem. The fetishisation of Guinness in London isn\u2019t just about taste. In fact, taste feels increasingly secondary. In a city more focused on style than any other in the country, it\u2019s about aesthetics.<\/p>\n

There are a number of stands to the \u2018alco-colonisation\u2019 of Guinness in the British capital. Firstly, wider social trends beyond London, that have seen a pint of the black stuff transform from stuffy old man drink into the pint of the masses. Personally, I\u2019m more than partial to a drop, but so much of its popularity isn\u2019t actually about the taste. With that jet black body and creamy white head, it looks incredible, and those looks have seen it gain status in social media-led Blighty.<\/p>\n

Social media is arguably the place that helped Guinness explode in the UK. We\u2019ve seen \u2018splitting the G\u2019 like a fresher on their rugby society induction grip the nation, and perfectly capture the shift in the brand\u2019s image. Then there\u2019s the topic of Guinness pint reviews. I\u2019m sorry, lads, but it tastes the same everywhere, with only the cleanliness of the pipes and freshness of the beer making a real difference, and don\u2019t even get me started on the glasses, because, unless it\u2019s a plastic, it really doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s walking into London\u2019s pubs that you see the real problem. This elevation of Guinness, as well as the rise of huge, global beverage companies, has led to a very limited selection of taps and pints on offer. A city that once offered variety and locality has been flattened into a monoculture, and even some of the craft breweries, like Camden, have been sucked in.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Credit: CAMRA<\/p>\n

London was once defined by its boroughs. Walking across these invisible boundaries saw you enter new domains with different styles, pints, music choices and clientele. That\u2019s been a gradual decline across generations, but has sped up since I started drinking, and now we\u2019re left with one beer culture across the whole city. Guinness is a huge international brand now, and you can\u2019t fault people outside the Emerald Isle for drinking it, but it is strange how it\u2019s become synonymous with the UK and London in particular. <\/p>\n

Stout sales have increased 40% year on year, and Guinness hit a 17.5% market share in pubs in 2025, with over two million pints of it sold daily<\/a>, and within London, one in every ten pints is a Guinness, making it the most popular pint. Pubs like The Devonshire have sprung up, and now patrons crowd the streets of Denman Street vaping and splitting the G in the smoking area. With its old-school taps and barman constantly starting off pints, it\u2019s become optimised for the quick, city pour. <\/p>\n

The title of the best Guinness in London is a hotly debated one, but The Devonshire is one of the principal contenders. Other frontrunners are Soho\u2019s The Toucan, as well as The Auld Shillelagh, Skehan\u2019s Freehouse and the Guinea Grill. Guinness itself opened up the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in the heart of tourist London, Covent Garden, furthering the alignment of this Irish staple and the UK.<\/p>\n

The adoption of Guinness as a national drink is nothing new, with the drink selling huge numbers in Nigeria, but it is particularly odd how it has gripped London, a city that has had a long and sometimes difficult relationship with Ireland. With its famous and intricate two-part pouring method, and the history of the brand, it feels authentic and \u2018proper\u2019 drinking. In a city as fast, ever-changing and transient as London, it feels slower and more rooted in tradition, but the more it\u2019s fetishised, the more it drifts from what made it so authentic to start with.<\/p>\n

As part of a wider trend of experience commodification in London<\/a>, from coffee to cocktails, we\u2019re seeing everything more carefully curated and branded. The consumption of the drink, too, feels performative, with people ordering it seemingly because it\u2019s the right choice, not because they like it. There\u2019s nothing wrong with Guinness; it\u2019s a great drink that has its place in London and the world over, but it needs to be back in its proper place, as one option in the local, not the defining part of the city\u2019s drinking culture. We\u2019ve reduced the rich, varied pub culture of the capital to one single beverage, and that\u2019s not healthy, even for one as iconic and satisfying as a Guinness.<\/p>\n

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