Includes information for The Botanist and The Lamb (closed brewpubs).
Brewhouse and Kitchen, London N1
Brewpubs, some no longer brewing
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
Ceased brewing: by January 2025
Islington: Torrens Street EC1V 1NG (Islington)
First sold beer: October 2014
Ceased brewing: September 2022
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 Mitchells & Butlers 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 M&B executive Simon Bunn.
The first Brewhouse and Kitchen opened around the corner from Angel station in October 2014, with South African-born Pete Hughes, later 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.
The original Islington branch closed ‘temporarily’ in September 2022 for ‘refurbishment’ — in fact a radical rebuilding of the whole site to create a new development known as Angel Square, with provision for a new Brewhouse and Kitchen in the completed buildings.
Originally all branches brewed beer for cask, keg and minicask, mainly sold on their own sites under names with local themes, though with some sharing of supplies between sites. The exact recipes varied from site to site, within a common template. Some branches, including Highbury, dispensed some lines direct from conditioning tanks.
But in November 2024 the company announced it was removing the brewhouses from some of its sites, which would become ‘craft houses’, retaining their emphasis on beer but supplied from other sites. The brands have consequently become more generic, and it’s likely the chain will eventually move towards a model of supplying all its outlets from a single production brewery, likely outside London.
Brewing ceased at Hoxton in early 2025, with the bar renamed the Hoxton Hound that spring: the equipment is due to be removed and the space converted to seating. Though the Islington site is due to open by the end of 2025, it’s understood there are no plans to revive brewing. This leaves Highbury as the only London site still brewing.
Updated 1 September 2025.
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