Includes information for The Botanist and The Lamb (closed brewpubs).
Brewhouse and Kitchen, London N1
Brewpubs
brewhouseandkitchen.com
Highbury: 2a Corsica Street N5 1JJ (Islington)
First sold beer: 22 June 2015
Hoxton: 397 Geffrye Street E2 8HZ (Hackney)
First sold beer: December 2018
Islington: Torrens Street EC1V 1NG (Islington)
First sold beer: October 2014
Brewing suspended: September 2022, unlikely to resume until at least 2024
Entrepreneur Kris Gumbrell’s Convivial pub chain ventured into brewing from 2011 with the Botanist on Kew Green (3 Kew Green, Richmond TW9 3AA, first sold beer September 2011) and later the Lamb in Chiswick (9 Barley Mow Passage W4 4PH, first sold beer September 2012). By December 2013, Convivial had been sold to M&B and brewing ceased at both sites, but inspired by the experience, Kris went on to conceive an entire chain of brewpubs, Brewhouse and Kitchen, in partnership with former Mitchells & Butlers executive Simon Bunn.
The first Brewhouse and Kitchen opened around the corner from Angel station in October 2014, with South African-born Pete Hughes, now the head brewer for the whole group, in charge of the former Botanist 4 hl brewhouse. The facilities here were later upgraded to a new 5 hl copper kit, with the original donated to Ignition brewery.
A second branch, with the 8 hl kit from the Lamb, opened in a former tramshed just off Highbury Corner the following year. After some years, a third London branch opened next door to Hoxton station in July 2018, in a former cocktail bar occupying three arches of the London Overground viaduct, one containing a new 4 hl copper brewhouse which wasn’t active until a few months later.
There are also now around 20 branches in other parts of the UK. All branches brew beer for cask, keg and minicask, mainly sold on their own sites under names with local themes, though there’s some sharing of supplies between sites. The Highbury branch additionally dispenses beer direct from conditioning tanks. The exact recipes vary from site to site, within a common template.
The original Islington branch closed temporarily in September 2022 as its site was to undergo a major refurbishment. Brewing should eventually resume but no reopening date has been announced and, as the building is being almost completely demolished and rebuilt, it’s likely to be at least two years.
Updated 18 December 2023
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