Former brewery, beer firm, brewpub owner
5 Garratt Lane SW18 4AQ (Wandsworth)
youngs.co.uk
As explained in the entry for Sambrook’s, at the beginning of the 21st century, Young’s was one of London’s two remaining historic independent breweries, active since 1831 at the Ram brewery in Wandsworth, a site with a brewing history going back to the 1530s. This all changed in 2006 when the company closed the Ram and sold it for redevelopment. To continue brewing the brands, Young’s set up a joint venture with Charles Wells in Beford, known as Wells & Young’s, 40% owned by the latter.
Young’s sold its shares in this to Wells in 2011 and is now just a pub company, while Wells later followed a similar route, selling its Eagle brewery and core brands to national brewer Marston’s in 2017. Now known as Wells & Co, with a new brewpub and microbrewery in Bedford opened in 2020, it no longer has any link to Young’s.
In 2019, Young’s beers were rebranded with London in their names and marketed, misleadingly in my view, with the slogan “London will always be Young’s.”
In May 2020, Marston’s also split off its pubs from its brewing activities, with the latter taken over by Carlsberg UK in 2020 to create Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC). Young’s beers continued to be brewed at the Eagle in Bedford, but in late 2022, CMBC sold this to Estrella Damm brewery of Barcelona, Catalunya, whose brands it had long produced and distributed under license. The new owner has since converted it entirely to lager production. Most Young’s brands were transferred to another CMBC subsidiary, Wychwood, in Witney, Oxfordshire, with seasonal Winter Warmer made at Marston’s Albion Brewery in Burton upon Trent. But Wychwood was closed in November 2023, so it’s likely all production is now in Burton.
In July 2021, Young’s sold off almost all of its leasehold pubs to major pubco Punch, which in December 2021 was sold to US-based investment group Fortress. Young’s retains its managed pubs which still sell Young’s beers brewed by CMBC under a rolling contract.
The 2006 closure was by no means the end of the story of brewing at the Ram, as explained under Sambrook’s and SlyBeast.
In November 2023, Young’s became a brewer of sorts again through its acquisition of the City Pub chain, which included several brewpubs including the Temple Brewhouse in London.
Updated 23 February 2024.
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