Brewery moved outside London
114 Randall Road SE11 5JR (Lambeth)
hanlonsbrewery.com
First sold beer: 1996
Moved outside London: 2000
John O’Hanlon, originally from Kerry, Ireland, and his wife Liz bought a small Grade II-listed ex-Whitbread pub in Clerkenwell, the Three Crowns (8 Tysoe Street EC1R 4RQ), in 1995. They renamed it O’Hanlon’s and it quickly became a popular London Irish pub.
Bored with selling so many pints of Guinness, John decided to try making his own stout, and in March 1996 began brewing in a Vauxhall railway arch on a 13 hl kit installed by Rob Jones (see Pitfield Brewery), initially primarily to supply the pub. His first beer was Port Stout, a dry stout modestly fortified with port wine, based on memories of a Dublin pub that served stout with a dose of port as a ‘corpse reviver’ for tired customers.
The beer caught drinkers’ imagination and further brands followed, with the brewery selling increasing amounts to third party stockists and adding bottled beers. The big supermarkets also began to take an interest.
Struggling with limited space, the O’Hanlons decided to relocate themselves and the brewery to a more rural setting in Devon, in 2000 completing a move to Great Barton Farm, Whimple, Exeter EX5 2NY. The pub was subsequently sold and is now known as the Old China Hand.
The relocated business received substantial investment from business mogul Gerry Robinson after featuring on Dragon’s Den-style TV series Gerry’s Big Decision in 2009. It was sold to new owners in 2014 and renamed simply to Hanlons. The same year it was relocated closer to Exeter at Half Moon Village, Newton St Cyres EX5 5AE where it remains in operation, although no longer produces Port Stout on a regular basis.
Updated 3 May 2024.
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