Brewpub
Brewery: 15 Whitburn Road SE13 7UQ (Lewisham)
Pub: 316 Lewisham High Street SE13 6JZ
foxfirkin.com
First sold beer: October 2023
This busy music pub became a brewpub towards the end of 2023, with a facility known as the Firkin brewery added in a former Sainsbury’s depot at the back. The project was the brainchild of Didier Autard, who has owned the pub for over a decade, and brewing consultant Hugo Anderson, a longstanding brewer with AB InBev.
The brewery was first proposed before the 2019 Covid lockdowns, but was subject to numerous delays due to bureaucracy, installation and staffing issues. The original head brewer had to leave for health reasons, but a replacement formerly at BBNo has since been recruited. The first beers eventually went on sale towards the end of October 2023.
This is the second time the pub, formerly the Black Bull, has operated as a brewpub. In 1980 it became the second in David Bruce’s chain of Firkin brewpubs following the Goose and Firkin and continued to serve its own beer until new owners Punch discontinued brewing across the chain in 1999. It’s one of the few to retain its Firkin-era name.
Beers are in keg though following a planned refurbishment in 2024 the core brands will be dispensed from 1,000 l tanks behind the bar.
Updated 14 December 2023.
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