Mat Wale, owner of Twisted Lemon, told Event: "The idea of it is that you have beer festivals all over the world but a lot of people can’t get to them and they have always been very old hand. So we are trying to put a fresh twist on it."
The space, which has a capacity of 400, and an additional 400 in a one-acre decked garden, has been filled with 42 lines of craft beer for the inaugural Urban Sessions festival.
It also features a beer-tasting room, where groups and individuals can learn more about what they are drinking, and eight bars that supply craft beers from around the world. These include Italy, Belgium and Germany, and a specific bar with beers from London micro breweries.
Wale and his team also got Melissa Cole, one of the UK’s leading beer experts, involved.
"The other thing is that we have Melissa on board and she has been training staff so they really know the products," added Wale. "It’s about putting the standards into every single part of the event."
Cole, who will be on-hand to speak to customers at the event, said that making sure the staff are properly trained is as much about educating staff as it is customer experience.
"It’s absolutely about having a festival feel but most of the staff come from a fine dining background and they have all been trained by me and they have a staff manual," said Cole.
"We are very conscious that this is a temporary event but we have armed them with the skills to be better with beer wherever they go in the future. In the UK, despite beer being the national drink, we are dreadfully neglectful of it."
As well as the beer bars, there are bars focusing on ‘beertails’ – cocktails with a beer twist – and regular cocktails.
Urban Sessions is open six days a week until 31 October and is closed on Tuesdays.
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