Contact Us - Bermondsey Street Bees

CONTACT

How To Find Us

Honey HQ has moved to;
Roundbush Farm, Great Totham, Essex CM9 8BZ

GET IN TOUCH

Dale Gibson
Beekeeping and Apis Consulting
dale@bermondseystreetbees.co.uk

@bstreetbees
@bermondseybees
@apisconsult

Please note that we do not offer swarm collection services.
Visit bbka.org.uk/swarm for your nearest collector.

Sarah Wyndham Lewis
Press, Events, Sales, Honey Sommelier
Tel: 07836 592415
sarah@bermondseystreetbees.co.uk

@sarahwyndham.lewis
@plantingforhoneybees
@honeysommelierlondon

Please e-mail Sarah to join our mailing
list for honey and event updates

To shop at our online store, click here

bstreetbees

A little like a rainbow after a storm or the sight

A little like a rainbow after a storm or the sighting of a dove following a flood, we hope that this simple image of hope, purity and mutual dependitude (taken after a tropical downpour of epic proportions) will lift your spirits after days of meteorological and political turmoil. #sustainablebeekeeping #hopespringseternal #thefutureisallwehave #honeybee #barbadosbees #plantingforhoneybees #littlegoodharbour

Flying yesterday, senses heightened by Storm Eunic

Flying yesterday, senses heightened by Storm Eunice & the ear-loops of lingering lockdown, a childhood revelation re-awakened: that the sun is always shining above the clouds. Uncancellable light above whatever clouded my horizon has been a source of strength for me ever since. #evertheoptimist

Three cheers for our restaurant clients newly awar

Three cheers for our restaurant clients newly awarded a Michelin star today.

Anthony Demetre @wildhoneystjames ⭐️

Woongchul Park / Bomee Ki @sollip_restaurant ⭐️

Jonny Lake / Isa Bal @trivetrestaurant ⭐️

Tremendous recognition of quality - and not a little perseverance - through two years of adversity.

Per ardua ad astra!

#michelinstar #congratulations #goodnewsatlast #perarduaadastra #honeyclients #honeycombclients #beeswaxclients #eatingisbelieving

This @hivedhq electric van was the only black & ye

This @hivedhq electric van was the only black & yellow stripy thing spotted buzzing around & about in Bermondsey on a windy, rainy afternoon.

We’re big fans of their next-day cargo bike honey deliveries - although most of our pedal-powered missions are made by David, our own office manager! #fromhivethroughhivedtoyou #sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #cargobikes #pedalpower

We moved the bees from our rooftop to Hertfordshir

Went out on our first “clean floors and check st

Went out on our first “clean floors and check stores” inspections of the year at @visitlambethpalace this morning.

Also made delivery of 28 crates of the 2021 honey harvest from this 800-year-old organically-tended garden.

Happily tying together endings and beginnings. #serenity #serendipity #sustainablebeekeeping #lambethpalace #lambethpalacehoney #plantingforhoneybees #endingsandbeginnings

Your chance to expose “imposter” honey food fr

Your chance to expose “imposter” honey food fraud.
#bermondseystreetbees #exposeimposterhoney #foodfraud #signup #

Down under, The Australian Financial Review used t

Down under, The Australian Financial Review used the post-box red @hiltonbankside hives to illustrate the global imperative of sustainable urban beekeeping practices. We know that we can’t “Save The World” from our tiny patch of SE1 but we can lead by example and spread the word. #sustainablebeekeeping #hiltonbankside #johnkennedy #australianfinancialreview #plantingforhoneybees #gettingitright #spreadtheword #urbanbeekeeping

There are two certain signs that Spring is coming.

There are two certain signs that Spring is coming. On my allotment, the broad beans and garlic are sprouting, the damson plum is budding. Hooray. The other sure sign is receiving the first bee-mail of the year (“Our company wants to put beehives on our London rooftop”). Oh dear. #sustainablebeekeeping #beemail #suresignofspring #allotment #pollinatinglondon #plantingforhoneybees

An effervescence of bees came bubbling up through

An effervescence of bees came bubbling up through the grass thatch over the feed hole as we popped a few roofs off while checking the stores on some of @honeymakers_uk overwintering nucs. All good & weighty, these 6-frame National nucs (with Buckfast Queens) will be ready in April! #thehoneymakers #effervescence #bubblingbees #nucs #buckfastqueens #bermondseystreetbees #notlonguntilApril

Bees in January. #hivesofinactivity #bermondseyst

Bees in January.

#hivesofinactivity #bermondseystreetbees #serenity #beesinjanuary

#Repost @provenancehub Bermondsey Street Bees. Con

#Repost @provenancehub Bermondsey Street Bees. Contrary to popular opinion, honeybees don’t hibernate in winter. They cluster tightly together and reduce activity to a minimum – but stay active, waiting for the first signs of Spring.

Although they won’t open a hive from November until February, they can check on the welfare of their bees by hefting the hives (to gauge whether their honey stores are running low) and treating each colony with oxalic (rhubarb leaf) acid against the deadly varroa mite.

This quieter period leaves them plenty of time to repair damaged equipment, clean their queen excluders and empty super boxes (where the honeycombs are made) and make new frames to allow the bees to draw fresh, clean wax comb when they replace all the dark, 3-year-old combs once Spring has sprung. This winter, their wholesale supply of honey and honeycombs to high-end restaurants, hotels and bars revived energetically once lockdown restrictions were loosened, keeping them busy in the run-up to Christmas. Sarah has used the time to write a year’s worth of monthly articles on different honeys for BeeCraft magazine – as well as starting to write the follow-up to her best-selling book “Planting For Honeybees”. We think that the bees would approve….

This is also a time for planning for the year ahead. Whilst they cannot control the weather (in 2021, a sopping wet May put paid to hopes of a good harvest) they can start drawing up the first apiary visit schedule for late February, visit new apiary sites and reallocate hives from existing sites.

All of their activities change with the seasons. As the daylight hours lengthen, they’ll be spending their time outside, just like the bees - on London’s rooftops, brownfield Dockland sites and 800-year-old gardens, and in walled orchards and wildflower meadows in the countryside. As the bees become more outward-bound, so do they - until the honey harvest in August, when the evenings start to draw in – then they collect, extract, cold-filter and store the year’s honey crop.

#honey #london #londonhoney #rawhoney #sustainable #sustainablehoney #realfood #rawauthenticity #independent #beekeeping #supportindependent

Repost @honeysommelierlondon . Swipe to see who’

Repost @honeysommelierlondon .
Swipe to see who’s using our raw honey to create a glorious rum cocktail for @alantitchmarshmbe on this Sunday’s @itvloveyourweekend . It’s the equally delicious @tvsandyclarke 😘 😘
.
@bstreetbees
#rawhoney #englishhoney #realhoney #honeycocktails #itvloveyourweekend #tvsandyclarke #julianfellowes #jimmydoherty

If you’re interested in urban beekeeping anywher

If you’re interested in urban beekeeping anywhere in the world, this @citylab article is well worth a read. (See URL in Linktree in my bio)

Look before you leap…..

#plantingforhoneybees #plantingforpollinators #sustainablebeekeeping #lookbeforeyouleap #urbanforage #beewelfare #beewash #dontbeaplonker #bermondseystreetbees

A cheerful start to 2022 with news that I passed t

A cheerful start to 2022 with news that I passed the @britishbeekeepers beekeeping exam, catchily called “Honey Bee Pests, Diseases and Poisoning”. Right up with the zeitgeist! Why do so few London beekeepers take the trouble to study this exam syllabus and improve the welfare of their bees ? #lifelonglearning #bermondseystreetbees #plantingforhoneybees #honeysommelierlondon #sarahwyndhamlewis #beedisease #zeitgeist #examjab #pestsdiseasesandpoisoning #londonbeekeeping

#Repost @honeysommelierlondon Updated version of @

#Repost @honeysommelierlondon Updated version of @dailymail interview online now. New link in bio. .
Although such a massive industry, honey fraud is extremely complex and subtle, so it’s good to keep the message straightforward .
… Read honey labels carefully. If you see the word ‘blend’, put the product back on the shelf. It’s been made in a factory by food scientists blending to a three point specification; colour, viscosity and price.
There is literally no reason on earth to blend honey except to create ever-cheaper ‘lookalikes’ ….which are often adulterated.
Quality, authenticity, individuality, provenance, clean eating and bee welfare are simply not important to the global honey processing industry.
If you want real honey, buy direct from beekeepers or from trusted specialist food shops. .
And take a mighty pinch of salt with the mega brands’ claims that their blended honey can be “traced back to the hives”. That’s greenwash.
.
#honeyfraud #globalhoneyfraud #adulteratedhoney #nottherealthing #realhoney #rawhoney #honeysommelierlondon

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

This is how the COLOSS CSI Pollen study sees Londo

This is how the COLOSS CSI Pollen study sees London. We joined 750 European beekeepers reporting data to the largest ever audit of pollen diversity for honeybee colonies. Unsurprisingly, the results highlighted the “importance of diverse forage for honeybees & other pollinators”. And also that: “This study…suggests higher (pollen) diversity in urban areas”.

#COLOSS #CSIPollen #londonbees #londonpollen #urbanpollen #nosurprises #pollen #beesinthecity #bermondseystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees

A pre-Christmas donation of East End honey deliver

A pre-Christmas donation of East End honey delivered to dynamic food hub Community Food Enterprise. Here’s CFE founder and all-year-round food Santa, Eric Samuel, checking out our consignment of multiple award-winning Royal Albert Dock honey against the filmic backdrop of Tate & Lyle’s North Woolwich site. #christmashoney #communityhoney #localhoney #allyearroundsanta #awardwinninghoney #honeydonation #eastendhoney #bermondesystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping

We love receiving a cheerful Christmas card from o

We love receiving a cheerful Christmas card from one of our hospitality clients.

Especially so when it’s from a 3-Michelin star London restaurant.

And even more so when they write: “Thanks for continuing to make the best honey around!”

Now pinned up on our Honey HQ noticeboard!

#3michelinstars #london3stars #christmascard #besthoneyaround #hospitality #generosityinadversity #sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #chefshoney #starquality

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