The first of three new beer palaces scheduled for London’s West End opens this month. The Munich-style beer hall Bierschenke Bierkeller spent a decade in the City near Liverpool Street until its lease came to an end, and has now taken over the former Belgo site in Covent Garden.

Bierschenke serves six types of sausage imported from Germany and a menu of Bavarian specialities including leberkäse (pork and beef meatloaf), goulash with spätzle, and chicken or pork schnitzel. Its furniture is carved in Munich from maple for authenticity, while its beer is sourced from Bavarian brewers Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr and Auerbräu.

Directly opposite, appropriately in Old Brewers Yard, the new £73million Guinness brewery is scheduled to open this autumn, on similar lines to the Irish brewer’s venues in Dublin and Edinburgh. An on-site microbrewery will produce limited-edition beers, and there will be a rooftop bar and a restaurant with an open fire kitchen.

The third and biggest of this beer trio will be the London debut of Manchester-based Albert’s Schloss, a gargantuan mock-Alpine ‘bier palace and cook haus’ due to open next spring in the Trocadero building on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Run by Mission Mars, Albert’s Schloss will accommodate as many as 500 guests in its four bars, with an extensive menu of Alpine dishes, beers and schnapps, as well as daily entertainment including plenty of live music. Named in honour of Prince Albert, the Schloss has proved a big hit with venues in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.