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.
Closed brewery 43 Glycena Road SW11 5TP (Wandsworth) First sold beer: 2001 Ceased brewing: 2007
An unrelated company to the present Battersea Brewery or to previous bearers of the name, this was founded by Stephen Nockolds and achieved some success in the early part of the 21st century, with its beers available in some major supermarkets.
I’ve been unable to confirm exactly when it stopped brewing. Stephen left in 2007 to become a management consultant and there was little activity after this. Duncan Sambrook tried to make contact when setting up his own brewery nearby in 2008, with no success.
Beer firm yeastieboys.co.nz Active since: September 2015 in UK, 2008 in New Zealand.
A pioneer of the now-flourishing New Zealand craft scene, this punningly named outfit was founded in Wellington by Stu McKinlay and Sam Possenniskie. It has always cuckoo brewed even in its home territory, and in 2015 Stu relocated to London to extend the brand. The beers have been brewed at several locations including BrewDog at Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; West Berkshire near Reading; and most recently at Utopian in Devon.
Stu has become a familiar and influential figure on the London scene, and now claims to lead “the world’s smallest multinational” with a similar operation in Australia. A popup Bermondsey taproom began late in 2019 and there are plans for a more substantial dedicated outlet.
Brewery, no visitors please Richmond TW9 (Richmond upon Thames) workshybrewing.co.uk First sold beer: September 2021
Originally active at UBREW from August 2018, this Australasian duo subsequently cuckoo-brewed at Kew (now CTZN), Portobello and outside London at Glen Affric, though developed the recipes on a pilot kit at home in Richmond.
In summer 2021, they upgraded to a 2 hl home kit and began producing small commercial runs as well as cuckoo-brewing. A larger space with taproo is planned, possibly in 2022.
Beers are in keg, can and bottle, mainly sold through local outlets.
Founded by retired Saracens rugby players Alistair Hargreaves and Chris Wyles in a quest for better but still accessible lager, Wolfpack initially brewed its lager at Greene King in Bury St Edmunds.
The company has since added other brands such as a pale ale, with some beers brewed at another Greene King subsidiary, Belhaven, at Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland. Though it has a partnership with Greene King, it remains independently owned and uses other, undisclosed, brewing partners too.
The beer is widely available in keg and can, including from the duo’s three London bars and from a double decker bus parked outside the ground at Saracens games.
Generations of drinkers must have thought they’d seen the back of this once-notorious London brand: see Stag Brewery. But in 2016 it was back, licensed by Nick Whitehurst of Brands Reunited from Heineken.
There have never been any plans for a separate brewery. Originally the beer, in keg and can, was cuckoo-brewed at Sambrook’s, using newly developed recipes, but this ceased following the brewery’s move to Wandsworth. A minikeg version of the once ubiquitous Party Seven giant can made an appearance early in 2021 but since then activity seems to have ceased.
Beer firm, planned brewery outside London Good Company, 17 Triton Street, London NW1 3BF toastale.com Active since: January 2016
Based in Southwark, Toast was launched by Tristram Stuart, founder of food waste charity Feedback, with the aim of recycling waste bread into beer, a process Tristram first saw in action at Brussels Beer Project. The company had early links with E5 Bakehouse. Income from sales helps support the charity.
Most of the bread used is in the form of crusts and other offcuts donated by the sandwich industry and surplus loaves from large bakeries, typically replacing a third of the grist. The first brew was at Hackney brewery but the core beers then moved to SEB in Broadstairs, Kent.
There are numerous one-off collaborations with brewers around the country and the world. The project has since expanded to New York City, working with local brewers. The recipes are ‘open source’ so anyone can brew them.
Toast launched a London taproom at the above address in collaboration with likeminded social enterprise Change Please coffee in March 2023. Check opening hours as, due to the location, it’s currently closed weekends and only open into the evening one day a week.
In July 2023, Toast announced it would be launching its own microbrewery in 2024, not in London but at Unity Place, a newly developed multi-purpose space in Milton Keynes. I’m therefore no longer regarding it as a London-based beer firm.
By the end of 2012, there were 37 commercial breweries operating in London, including 12 brewpubs. One was part of a national group (N) and one part of a multinational (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
Florence Brewery SE24, Lambeth, brewpub, relaunches under new management as Head in a Hat. The pub is then acquired by Greene King N, but brewing continues.
For definitions of a London brewery, see the current London breweries page.
By the end of 2013, there were 52 commercial breweries operating in London, including 14 brewpubs. One was part of a multinational group (M). These breweries were:
AB InBev UK (Stag, AB InBev M) SW14, Richmond upon Thames
Beavertown Brewery moves from Dukes Brew and Que to an expanded standalone site in Fish Island, Tower Hamlets. Pub continues to operate as a non-brewing venue.
Head in a Hat is now independent, though using kit and premises leased from Greene King N.
N = part of a national brewing group.
For definitions of a London brewery, see the current London breweries page.
With its spiritual home at Woodberry Down, Haringey, just off the Seven Sisters Road, this was started at UBREW as a part-time project by maths teachers Chris Martin and Tristan Bradley and retail professional Julio Santoyo in 2016.
It’s since worked at Bianca Road and various Brewhouse & Kitchens before largely settling at Hambledon Ales in Yorkshire, though the beers are easy to find in north London, and it’s also organised beer festivals in Stoke Newington.
Closed brewery 36 Ernest Avenue SE27 0DJ (Lambeth) First sold beer: April 2019 Ceased brewing: September 2019
This short-lived brewery was founded by Ian Hewitt and a homebrewing friend, who opened a taproom in West Norwood late in 2018, originally cuckoo brewing the beer in Scotland. They then added their own small kit, but the taproom had to close in autumn 2019 and the project has since been abandoned.
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