Closed brewpub
Brew Wharf Yard, Stoney Street SE1 9AD (Southwark)
First sold beer: September 2005
Ceased brewing: May 2014
An upmarket brewpub under railway arches by Borough Market, Brew Wharf became one of the early pioneers of the current resurgence in London brewing. One of four bar-restaurants at food and drink visitor attraction Vinopolis, it was the creation of two successful London restaurateurs: Claudio Pulze, who was also behind the Cantina restaurant elsewhere in the complex, and Trevor Gulliver, of award-winning British eatery St John in Clerkenwell, a longtime supporter of beer with food. From the beginning, the venue boasted an 8 hl microbrewery, visible behind glass opposite the kitchen and intended to be considered an equal partner in gastronomic excellence.
In the early days, Brew Wharf produced a limited range of traditional British styles, but that all changed in Spring 2010 with the arrival of Phil Lowry, then manager of online beer shop beermerchants.com. He convinced the management that brewing brown bitters was not the best way to grab attention in a location a few seconds from pubs like the Rake and the Market Porter and just down the road from the newly-established Kernel brewery. Phil brought in two fellow beer geeks and former home brewers: Steve Skinner, from Detroit, Michigan, who’d recently done a stint at Gadd’s in Ramsgate; and Angelo Scornera, born in Britain but brought up in Houston, Texas. A stream of unusual, experimental, boldly flavoured and internationally influenced beers followed, including numerous collaborations, all of them cask conditioned and sold almost exclusively on site.
More significant to the recent history of London brewing than the beers was Brew Wharf’s status as the birthplace of the London Brewers Alliance (LBA). In September 2010, Phil and Evin O’Riordain of the Kernel invited every brewery then operating in London to a dinner at Brew Wharf and were astonished to find 15 brewers turned up, including from big names like Fuller’s. All became founding members of the LBA, inspired by similar organisations in the US and elsewhere. This organisation has been enormously important in inspiring and supporting many of the breweries opened in the decade since, and increasing the overall quality and diversity of London beer. For a while, Brew Wharf was its unofficial base, hosting the first LBA festival in October 2011.
Phil and Steve attempted setting up a beer firm called Saints and Sinners with the intention of marketing some of the beers more widely, but Steve had returned to the US by 2011 and Phil found his time taken up elsewhere. Brewing continued for some years under Angelo and subsequent brewers, but the venue was sold early in 2014 and the new owners decided to let the brewhouse fall idle. It’s since been moved to the Breakwater brewery in Dover, Kent. The whole Vinopolis complex closed for redevelopment at the end of 2015: at the time of writing, a planned area of “urbane and welcoming new retail streets, cultural galleries and commercial office space” is not yet complete.
Last updated 4 January 2020
Leave a Reply