Includes information for Bünker, Soho Brewing Co and Zebrano.
Brewery no longer in London
Original site: The Coachworks, 80 Parsons Green Lane SW6 4HU (Hammersmith & Fulham)
freedombrewery.com
First sold beer: 1995
Ceased brewing: 2001 (at this site)
Freedom Covent Garden
41 Earlham Street WC2H 9LX (Camden)
First sold beer: 1998 (as Soho Brewing Co)
Ceased brewing: by end 2005 (as Bünker)
Freedom Soho
22 Ganton Street W1F 7BY (Westminster)
First sold beer: 1999
Ceased brewing: 2003 (as Zebrano)
Freedom was not, as is sometimes claimed, the first dedicated lager brewery in the UK or even the only dedicated lager brewery of its time. But it was certainly the first major UK brewing initiative of modern times to focus on brewing quality lager, a daring step in the context of a UK beer scene where ‘lager’ was considered by many a poor quality industrial product. The gamble paid off as Freedom has survived into the changed circumstances of today, though is now some way from its west London birthplace.
The history of Freedom is linked to Weihenstephan-trained Alastair Hook, a longstanding advocate of good lager. Alastair had already created a lager brewery in a pioneering brewpub, the Packhorse, in Ashford, Kent, which operated between 1991 and 1994. Soon after it closed, he was invited by property developer Ewan Eastham to help set up what became Freedom in a former dairy building at Parsons Green. In 1996, Alastair left to set up Mash & Air for Oliver Peyton (see Mash) and, later, his own brewery, Meantime.
Freedom grew under the leadership of managing director Philip Parker, adding a brewpub in Soho in 1999. Meanwhile, in 1998, an unconnected brewpub opened in Covent Garden, confusingly known as the Soho Brewing Company. In 1999, this was sold to Freedom and rebranded (note there’s no connection with the current Soho Brewing). Brewing in Fulham ceased in 2001, and though the brewpubs continued making beer for a while, they couldn’t meet demand for the bottled products, which were contracted out. According to contemporary newspaper reports, some Freedom beer was brewed at Meantime, though former Meantime employees dispute this.
In the early 2000s, new management at Freedom began planning a move to a production brewery outside London. The brewpubs were eventually sold to new owners. The Soho site became Zebrano in 2002 and continued brewing for another year or so before becoming simply a bar and restaurant which is still trading under that name today. The Covent Garden branch became Bünker in 2003 and remained open under this name until 2009, but brewing had ceased by 2005. The address now houses a Japanese restaurant.
Freedom relocated to what’s now a substantial plant in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire. It changed hands again in 2013 and is now owned by entrepreneur Tim Massey.
Updated 29 January 2020
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