Temple Brew House (City Pubs/Young’s)

Formerly Essex Street Brewing.

Brewpub no longer brewing
46 Essex Street WC2R 3JF (Westminster)
templebrewhouse.com/brewery
First sold beer: 20 December 2014, as Essex Street Brewing
Brewing suspended: March 2020
Brewing restarted: May 2022
Brewing ceased: by June 2025

Pub chain the City Pub Co already had brewpubs in Bath and Cambridge when it added a London branch near the Temple late in 2014. An 8 hl kit was squeezed into a stairwell, with some serious ventilation equipment installed after the lawyers upstairs complained about the smell (their loss). Though the pub was known as the Temple Brew House, the brewery originally traded under the Essex Street brand.

Long claiming to be ‘London’s most central brewery’, it was a lively participant in the local brewing scene under the guidance of longstanding head brewer Vanesa de Blas.

The pub was closed with brewing suspended during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns. After some uncertainty about its future, it was finally reopened in Feburary 2022 with brewing restored in May.

By now, Vanesa was based at a sister brewpub the Cambridge Brew House but, as this had a smaller kit, she regularly visited London to brew longer runs. In August 2022, the Essex Street brand was dropped with all beers appearing under the Temple Brew House name.

In November 2023, the pub was sold to the Young’s pub company, along with the other 53 sites in the group. Brewing continued for some time afterwards, but had ceased by June 2025, partly due to the difficulties of working on a cramped site in a busy location, with house beers supplied from other brewpubs in the group outside London.

The pub closed again for refurbishment in August 2025, along with the Davy’s wine bar next door, also owned by Young’s. It reopened in November following radical remodelling, combining the two units into a single large venue, with the brewhouse removed in the process.

Brewing continues at least one of the other City brewpubs owned by Young’s outside London, the King Street Brew House in Bristol, where some Young’s brands have even been revived as one-offs.

Beers were in keg and cask, many of them gluten-free, sold on-site and at other sites in the group. There were numerous collaborations including with Toast Ale.

Updated 16 December 2025.

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