Eltham Wines and Beers is a craft beer bottle shop in South East London with an excellent selection running from traditional English, German and Belgian beers through to modern milkshake IPAs. Beerblefish general manager Glenn caught up with the shop’s owner, Mits Patel, to find out more about his journey to being the local area’s leading craft beer shop.
Can you tell me about your background?
I come from a family of storekeepers so once I finished university, it seemed natural that I would use my skills to help the family business. Our original family store (which we still operate) is in Kew and we started Eltham Wines in 2011.
Did you start on day one with this great range of beer?
No. We took over a store that used to be a Threshers, but it had remained empty for a while so we had no stock and no customers. We started by stocking regular beers.
So how did you get into craft beer?
My own craft beer moment came when I was served BrewDog on a flight to India. It tasted great! On the business side, we noticed the craft beer trend about five years ago, so we started stocking more and more craft beer and have built it to what you see today.
You’ve mentioned a couple of challenges already, but are there any other obstacles that you faced?
We had to really understand beer. The burgeoning brewing scene meant that there were thousands of options, so we had to identify the right mix of stock. Of course the right mix varies from location to location, but we’re at the point where we should meet most needs of our customers.
You mention your customers… how would they describe your business?
They are amazed by the volume of new stock combined with the general range of styles.
What do you think makes your bottle shop successful?
Our point of differentiation is that we’re a specialist who deals with hard to find beers. No one else in the area can beat our range, hence we get word of mouth recommendations from satisfied customers. Instagram has been good for us too.
What does the future hold?
We’re looking to start an online store. Maintaining inventory levels across both the online store and the physical store will be challenging, but it should be a good opportunity.
You have stocked a range of Beerblefish beers. Is there one that stands out?
The original heritage range and (in particular) the 1820 Porter.
Do you like darker beers yourself?
Stouts are actually a favourite of mine!
What beer trends have you noticed recently?
Strong beers tend to attract higher Untappd ratings. The strongest beer that we’ve had is a 16.5% beer from Buxton.
Many thanks to Mits for undergoing Glenn’s interrogation!
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