Brewery moved outside London and since closed
25 Summerstown SW17 0BQ (Wandsworth)
bythehorns.co.uk
First sold beer: October 2011
Suspended brewing in London: by December 2021
Alex Bull and Chris Mills, then only three years out of university, started brewing on an industrial estate between Earlsfield and Wimbledon in September 2011, using a bespoke 9 hl kit from Oban Ales. Their site was opposite Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, the last of its kind in London.
A new 18 hl brewhouse, also from Oban, was installed in 2015, and the space began expanding into adjacent units, eventually occupying a whole row. A canning line was added in 2018.
Even this wasn’t enough, and in March 2021 the main production facility was transferred to Salfords, near Redhill, Surrey, just outside London (11 The IO Centre, Salbrook Road Industrial Estate, Salfords, Redhill RH1 5GJ), with a 30 hl semi-automated kit. A pilot brewery remained at the old place alongside an expanded taproom.
Meanwhile the greyhound stadium closed in 2017 and was soon demolished, replaced by a new development including a stadium for League One football team AFC Wimbledon alongside housing and shops. The Cherry Red Records Stadium, as it was named, opened in November 2020. By the Horns began brewing an exclusive beer for the stadium, Crazy Gang Pale Ale.
The relationship deepened in December 2021 when the brewery took over the Phoenix pub within the stadium (Plough Lane SW17 0NR), open to the public except during matches, as the new official taproom.
The old brewery site and taproom across the road were then closed, though with a long-term aspiration to install a small brewhouse in the Phoenix.
Sadly, the brewery went into administration in December 2024. The Phoenix remained open temporarily but was due to close at the end of the football season in May 2025, with all plans for an in-house brewery abandoned.
Beers were in keg, can and cask.
Updated 22 April 2025.
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