Promoting an international beer culture that recognises and celebrates beers of quality, distinctiveness and local character, brewed with care and passion.
Best beer and travel writing award 2015, 2011 -- British Guild of Beer Writers Awards
Accredited Beer Sommelier
Writer of "Probably the best book about beer in London" - Londonist
"A necessity if you're a beer geek travelling to London town" - Beer Advocate
"A joy to read" - Roger Protz
"Very authoritative" - Tim Webb.
"One of the top beer writers in the UK" - Mark Dredge.
"A beer guru" - Popbitch.
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.
1 opening, 5 closures and suspensions, net change -4.
By the end of 2005, there were 10 commercial breweries operating in London, including three brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
Anheuser-Busch UK (Stag, Anheuser-Busch M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
Closed brewpub 19 Great Portland Street W1W 8QB (Westminster) First sold beer: March 1998 Ceased brewing: by end 2006
An upmarket restaurant and brewpub just off Oxford Circus, Mash played a role in the prehistory of the current London craft brewing scene and in the career of one of the capital’s most prominent brewing visionaries, Alastair Hook.
Mash’s origin was outside London in Manchester. In late 1996, London-based restaurateur Oliver Peyton moved north with the opening of Mash & Air in Manchester’s ‘gay village’ on the corner of Canal Street and Chorlton Street. Alastair, who had helped set up London’s Freedom brewery, was brought in to add a house brewery, with a 16 hl Italian-built kit in operation by early 1997. The business deliberately set out to promote beer with food in an environment very different from a traditional pub, dispensing mainly from keg in a retro-futuristic space within a repurposed former mill building.
Mash in London, originally known as Mash 2, was opened as a sister branch in 1998, with a similar upmarket designer feel. It was equipped with another 16 hl Italian-built brewhouse making beer for keg and tank, again with the initial help of Alastair, who soon afterwards began work on his own brewery, Meantime.
Neither venue survived to witness the current resurgence in brewing in both cities. The Manchester brewpub had gone by the end of 2000, its kit sold to Grand Union, while its London sister continued for several years more. On-site brewing fizzled out during 2006 but Mash continued to commission beer from others until it finally closed in 2008. The address is currently occupied by the Italian restaurant chain Vapiano.
By the end of 2006, there were nine commercial breweries operating in London, including three brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
Anheuser-Busch UK (Stag, Anheuser-Busch M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
By the end of 2007, there were nine commercial breweries operating in London, including five brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
Anheuser-Busch UK (Stag, Anheuser-Busch M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
2 openings and revivals, 1 closure, net change +1.
By the end of 2008, there were 10 commercial breweries operating in London, including five brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
Cock and Hen SW6, Hammersmith & Fulham, brewpub: see Florence.
Other changes
Anheuser-Busch is taken over by Belgo-Brazilian group InBev to become AB InBev. The Stag brewery is slated for closure but this is subsequently postponed.
After a three-year gap, Sweet William is revived under new ownership as Brodie’s Fabulous Beers.
For definitions of a London brewery, see the current London breweries page.
By the end of 2009, there were 12 commercial breweries operating in London, including five brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
By the end of 2010, there were 14 commercial breweries operating in London, including five brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
By the end of 2011, there were 22 commercial breweries operating in London, including eight brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
Closed brewery 10 Abenglen, Betam Road, Hayes UB3 1SS (Hillingdon) First sold beer: March 2002 Ceased brewing: by end 2007
On an industrial estate near the Grand Union Canal, this brewery was created by the owners of the Old Kent Brewery in Borough Green, Kent, which itself had been founded in August 2000. It used 16 hl kit formerly at pioneering Manchester brewpub Mash & Air. The two companies operated separately, and the parent closed in 2003.
Despite achieving some success in getting bottled beer into supermarkets under US-born head brewer Tom Madeiros, Grand Union also ceased in 2007, just before the recent reinvigoration of London brewing. Tom had already moved on to Twickenham Fine Ales in 2005. The kit went to Betwixt Brewing in Birkenhead, now Peerless.
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London’s Best Beer
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