Who are we?

The Bread and Roses is run by the Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union council which is a group of dedicated, mostly unpaid volunteers, who support local and international workers’ right campaigns from Wimbledon to Haiti.

At the Bread and Roses we have created a friendly, helpful, and efficient atmosphere. Heavy market forces, or target audiences do not drive us, which means we attract a broad cross section of customers and host a variety of eclectic events each month. These include the vibrant Clapham or Bust Burlesque nights, Live music and DJs at the weekend, quiz nights, BBQ’s Clapham War gaming society and even table football competitions!!

We also pride ourselves on serving beers that are a little bit different from the high street bars and pubs. So expect to be sat quaffing, the rather excellent German beer Erdinger or Mozart’s favourite tipple Stiegl. It is very important that everyone is made to feel welcome in the pub and more importantly that everyone has a great time.

The Workers Beer Company

The Workers Beer Company raises funds for trades union and campaigning organisations. The Company runs beer tents at large outdoor events, and promotes music festivals and other events to raise money for the labour movement.

Thousands of volunteers from dozens of organisations work in Workers Beer Company bars, pouring and serving drinks to fund the activities of their groups. This last year has seen the total amount raised by Beer Company servers reach over £1.5 million, money that goes directly to grassroots organisations - trades union branches, campaigning groups, solidarity organisations and voluntary groups.

Born in the 1980s, the Company grew up in the harsh years of Thatcher, building partnerships with organisations of the left, but also with commercial organisations, in order to generate the funds needed to campaign for a better quality of life for working people.

The Company's unique blend of commerce, fun and fundraising has captured the imagination of the many people who have come into contact with it, and WBC banners are now a common site at some of the largest music events in the UK and beyond. Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival and Homelands see WBC beer tents every year, and the Fleadh, London's premier music festival, is co-promoted by the Workers Beer Company with the Mean Fiddler organisation.

Apart from the large events, the Company is also involved in smaller trades union and community events, offering its expertise to unions, local authorities and voluntary groups to ensure their events go smoothly.

The Bread and Roses in Clapham is the Company's first pub, an award-winning free house in Clapham, where the ethos of the Company continues throughout the year. Staff in the pub are not volunteers like those on site, but are covered by a model union agreement for pubstaff, negotiated with the T&G, offering staff proper sick pay, holiday pay and perhaps the best wage rate in the country.

If you would like further information about the Workers Beer Company, the services it offers, or how to fundraise with the Company, call us on 020 7720 0140 or visit other pages on this website on www.workersbeer.co.uk or e-mail us at info@workersbeer.co.uk or write to:

The Workers Beer Company
68A Clapham Manor Street
Clapham
London SW4 6DZ

Why The Name?

The pub takes its name from a song written during a strike of women textile workers in Lawrence Massachusetts, USA in 1912. Twenty seven thousand women went on strike and marched for eleven weeks to improve their working conditions.

Their banners called for bread and roses and a poet among them, James Oppenheim, wrote these words, which went on to become a famous song for women trade unionists everywhere and is still sung by delegates to the ICTU Womenís Conference at the conclusion of the conference.

This pub is named in recognition of their struggle and the struggle of workers everywhere for a better quality of life for themselves and their families.

As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day, A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts grey, Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses; For the people hear us singing; ìBread and roses! Bread and roses!î As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,For they are womenís children and we mother them again, Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread but give us roses! As we come marching, marching,unnumbered women dead Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread. Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew. Yes, it is bread we fight for but we fight for roses too!