Includes information for Queens Head brewpub.
Closed brewery, former brewpub
Original site: Queens Head, 66 Acton Street WC1X 9NB (Camden)
Second site: 11 Gales Gardens E2 0EJ (Tower Hamlets)
Current site: 1 Queens Yard, White Post Lane E9 5EN (Tower Hamlets)
oldstreet.beer
First sold beer: January 2015 (as Queens Head), March 2018 (as Old Street)
Ceased brewing: December 2023
The Old Street story started in 2013 when staff at the Queens Head pub near Kings Cross first attempted brewing under the name Against the Grain. Initial experiments weren’t successful but, following long delays and the installation of a new, very small 1 hl kit, consistency and quality became good enough to sell the beers in the pub, where they were simply branded with the pub name.
In October 2016, two keen staff members from related beer bar Mother Kellys, Adam Green from Arizona and Andreas Wegelius from Finland, took over brewing duties. They renamed the operation Old Street Brewery after the location of the flat where they had begun homebrewing — rather confusingly as the brewery itself has never been based there.
Activities at the pub stopped in May 2017 so the kit, now resourcefully adapted to double its capacity, was relocated to a Bethnal Green railway arch with space for a taproom, opened in April 2018. The brewhouse was replaced a year later by a much bigger 10 hl kit formerly at Pressure Drop.
Further expansion followed in November 2020 when production shifted to a more expansive location, also with a taproom, amid the cluster of breweries in Queens Yard, Hackney Wick, neighbouring Crate, Howling Hops and Truman’s.
The Bethnal Green arch initially continued in use as a bar but the brewery closed this down in November 2021 to concentrate on the Old Street site, which also featured live music.
Like many others, Old Street struggled to survive following the 2020-21 Covid-19 lockdowns, a challenge exacerbated by rent increases. It last brewed in December 2023 and had closed for good by mid-April 2024.
Nearly all the beer was sold through the taproom, from keg and sometimes cask, with occasional mobile canning runs.
Updated 5 June 2024.
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