Jennifer Allen - Lady Pub Diaries - Beer Lover
I thought it's about time that
I'd let you in on some secrets about me. Just a
little something to find out what makes me tick and what gets me
up in the morning. I'll try not to bore you, I promise.
I guess you could say my proper
adult life began when I moved to London in 2007, moving down after uni in
Leeds. I came to find my dream vocation in fashion and after a few years trying
and failing, I fell into my second passion - hospitality. The Tooting Tram and
Social (owned by Antic) was preparing to open its doors for the first time,
bringing a whole new culture and nightlife to Tooting, in South London. I then
went on to manage The Antelope, Balham Bowls Club and the Effra Social in Brixton.
I had some of my best years running Antic pubs, but after 5 years of long days,
late nights and very little sleep, it was time to move on. From here I went on
to run cafes, restaurants, taprooms and craft beer shops.
The rise of the craft beer
scene was fascinating for me. I was tired of drinking boring beers and couldn't
wait to get my hands on a Beaver Town 8Ball, or a Kennel Pale Ale and when I
did, I was eager to try more and expand my pallet. This also
encouraged me to start writing about all these new amazing beers and the
places to find/drink them. This is where I introduce - Lady Pub
Diaries.
Lady Pub Diaries (on Twitter)
took off pretty quickly. I immersed myself into the craft beer world and
surrounded myself with the right people, probably mainly blagging (to begin
with) myself into beer festivals and conferences across the UK.
Writing and social media then
took over the creative part of my brain. I did a short creative writing course,
I got myself involved with local community organisations and became a
freelancer, writing copy and posting about local businesses. I've also worked
one-on-one with small business owners, helping them setup their business' social media pages, ran their accounts and
helped them gain new customers and engagement from their local community.
During this period, I filled my spare time working for Brixton Brewery and
By The Horns Brewery.
In December 2017, I had an
interesting email from James, from Hop Stuff Brewery. He thought I'd be the
perfect fit for the social media and events role, which had just opened with
Hop Stuff. With news of an expansion and an interesting craft beer line-up on
the cards, it sounded like the perfect opportunity and something I could really
get my teeth into.
I started working for Hop Stuff
in February 2018, which turned out to be a very busy time. The second crowd
funding project had just begun, the new brewery site had been acquired and the
whole team were getting excited about the future of Hop Stuff Brewery.
I worked on the crowd funding
project, communications with investors, working directly with the sales team
and generally working daily on social media and events.
2018 was a big year for me. A
New job, new relationship, a baby, unfortunately losing my dear dad to cancer
and finding out in early 2019 that my job was on the line. Wow! Who knew so
much could happen in a year.
Long story short, Hop Stuff
Brewery went into administration early summer 2019 and with so many financial
struggles, it looked like there was no way back.
As the summer rolled by, July
brought news of a buy out for Hop Stuff from the one and only Molson Coors
Brewing Limited.
So here I am, now employed by
Molson Coors and loving being back at work, after 10 months off on maternity
leave. I'm looking forward to the challenge of bringing back the Hop Stuff
brand, the beers and of course all the fun times. Here's to many more!
You can find out more about
what I get up to on my Instagram page @jennylou_lpdxx and on my
Twitter page Lady Pub Diaries.
Looking forward to making more memories and then sharing them.
Cheers
Jen x
