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Nodding in their name to local heroes the Kinks, the Hillbillies are also a quartet, though currently still holding their day jobs and working on the brewery part-time. Homebrewers Martin Hodgson and Pete Syratt began the project by experimenting at UBREW but by late 2016 were registered commercially, working on a small scale at Pete’s home and selling very locally, including at the Alexandra Palace Farmers’ Market.
They moved up a notch in February 2017, taking an upstairs space at 24 Avenue Mews, a small street just behind the main Muswell Hill junction that’s also home to several other craft businesses. Here they worked on a big homebrew-style setup making 130 l batches. A taproom opened a few doors down in April 2018.
The taproom at Muswell Hillbilly’s pretty Muswell Hill mews
In October 2019, the brewery upgraded to a more professional capacity with the former Hale 5 hl kit (previously used by Affinity and Anspach & Hobday) on the ground floor of another unit in the mews.
In November 2023, it became the home of sour beer cuckoo brewer Tart.
In July 2024, it began operating a second, bar, the community-owned Hillbilly Social in Bounds Green.
Beers are mainly keg and bottle-conditioned, with some cask, and often use local ingredients: some of the hops is grown by the Hillbillies and their friends in gardens and allotments.
Brewery, no visitors please Bromley BR1 4HE (Bromley) mutineers.beer First sold beer: October 2018
Inspired by an “experience day” at London Fields, engineer Rob Vote began homebrewing with friends Gareth Bathers, Lee Hayes and Joe Miles. They later graduated to small-scale commercial brewing using a 1 hl three-tier kit at a private address.
Beers in cask and bottle are mainly at session strengths, sold through local outlets.
Brewery 3 Cromwell Industrial Estate, Staffa Road E10 7QZ (Waltham Forest) neckstamper.com First sold beer: January 2017
Another member of the Lea Bridge brewery cluster, Neckstamper boasts a 16 hl Dave Porter kit in a small industrial unit, with a taproom right next to the brewing floor. Founder and long-time homebrewer Adam Jefferies began as a mechanical engineer working in Formula 1 racing but switched to banking before embarking on professional brewing after a short course.
The curious name is from an obsolete London slang term for 18th century potboys who delivered beer from pubs to private estates; beer names make similar use of archaic drink-related slang.
Adam Jefferies of Neckstamper Brewing.
Beers are packaged in keg as well as in cans using a mobile line.
Brewery T6 Leyton Industrial Village, Argall Avenue E10 7QP (Waltham Forest) nirvanabrewery.com First sold beer: May 2017
Founded by Steve Dass and Becky Kean, this operation in a modern industrial unit at Lea Bridge specialises in low alcohol beers. Everything is properly brewed and fermented from traditional ingredients but using reduced amounts of malt and controlling mashing temperatures and fermentation carefully to reduce the strength.
The brewery is equiped with a 16 hl brewhouse plus a pilot kit. A taproom is open for occasional events.
Head brewer Steve Hunt, formerly at 360 Degree in Uckfield, moved on in 2021, replaced by Chris Matthewman, ex-Brixton.
Beers are mainly bottled, with some kegs and cans. Core beers are no more than 0.5% ABV while specials made on the pilot kit occasionally creep up to 1.2%.
Closed brewery, beer firm 44 Church Street, Twickenham TW1 3NT (Richmond upon Thames) ricardoscellar.co.uk First sold beer: January 2018 Ceased brewing: March 2020
For a while this was probably London’s smallest commercial brewery, occupying a corner of a shop unit shared with a delicatessen and a record dealer in Twickenham’s historic Church Street. A 20 l Braumeister homebrewing kit was used for monthly open brewdays and private bookings, the brainchild of former Heineken employee Guy Hutchinson and retailer Ricardo Garcia. Some of the results were sold in the shop in plastic bottles.
Activities had to stop during the lockdowns, and are unlikely to restart as Guy has now fully retired and moved out of London.
Ricardo, meanwhile, continues to commission beers under the Ricardo’s Cellar brand for sale in the shop. Previously these have been brewed at Belleville and Twickenham and are currently supplied by Hepworth in West Sussex.
Brewpub 106 Northfield Avenue W13 9RT (Ealing) markopaulo.co.uk First sold beer: 2 December 2016 Brewing suspended: September 2021 Brewing resumed: June 2023
Closed production brewery Ealing Brewing Brewery 4 The Ham, Brentford TW8 8HE (Hounslow) First sold beer: 2 November 2019 Ceased brewing: June 2023
The Owl and the Pussycat opened in December 2016 as the first London micropub north of the river and the UK’s first only micro-brewpub. The custom-built 2 hl brewery, named Marko Paulo after the two ex-teachers who founded it, Paul Nock and head brewer Mark Yarnell, was neatly wedged into a small room at the back.
Despite its size, its success far exceeded expectations, and in 2019 the operation expanded to an industrial unit in Brentford under the name Ealing Brewing. This was equipped with a 6 hl kit and four fermentation tanks formerly at the Gene Pool brewery in Hull, alongside a 40 l pilot kit, with a taproom added in November.
The Owl and the Pussycat continued brewing for a while, producing small runs of specials, but following the challenges of the Covid-19 lockdowns, all production moved to the Brentford site by September 2021. The original site continued as a micropub with a wide range of the beers available.
Following the taproom closure in June 2022, there were rumours that the Ealing brewery had closed, and though these turned out to be premature, by June 2023 the Brentford site had been sold and brewing revived on a small scale at the Owl and Pussycat under the original Marko Paulo name.
Brewpub, brewing currently suspended Original site: 395 Mentmore Terrace E8 3PH (Hackney) Current site: E5 Poplar Bakehouse, 2 Cotall Street E14 6TL (Tower Hamlets) e5bakehouse.com First sold beer: December 2017 (at original site) Brewing suspended: March 2020
This specialist bakery is noted for making its own kvass, a low alcohol beer popular in eastern Europe. Master baker Simone began brewing at the firm’s site near London Fields in 2017, working in 50-60 l batches using leftover rye and spelt bread, sugar or honey and a sourdough starter.
Brewing was suspended during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and the equipment moved in 2021 to another, bigger, site, at the foot of a new residential block overlooking the Limehouse Cut canal. The London Fields site still operates as a bakery and café.
The intention was to revive brewing in 2022 but while this didn’t happen, since December 2022 the bakery has been collaborating with the Kernel on several kvass beers made in Bermondsey from waste bread supplied by E5.
Beer is sold at both sites subject to availability. Besides bottles, some has been produced in keg or dispensed direct from the fermenter.
Closed brewery Catford SE6 (Lewisham) oldkentrdbrewery.co.uk First sold beer: December 2019 Brewing ceased: January 2022
Will O’Neale and David Clack’s beers inspired by the history of the Old Kent Road first appeared early in 2016, cuckoo brewed at UBREW and, later, various other facilities. They then moved to working from their own 50 l installation at a private address some way south of the like-named road, outsourcing the occaional longer run. All brewing took place outside, so this is likely London’s only weather-dependent brewery.
The model proved difficult to sustain and at the end of January 2022 the business marked the end of brewing with a farewell part at Beer Shop London in Nunhead.
Beers were in keg and can, with some bottle conditioned specials in 750 ml.
Closed brewery 16A Rosebery Industrial Park N17 9SR (Haringey) First sold beer: May 2017 (as Brewheadz); May 2019 (as ORA) Ceased brewing: November 2024
An alluring fusion of northern Italian and London craft beer culture, ORA was founded in October 2016 in Modena, Emilio-Romagna, where two of its owners continued to live, though it mainly operated in London under the auspices of director Daniele Zaccarelli. It began as a cuckoo, one of the highest-achieving teams working at Bermondsey’s UBREW.
Meanwhile in April 2017, four other expatriate Italian homebrewing friends went professional under the name Brewheadz on a Tottenham industrial estate using a 14 hl Dave Porter kit. This project ran into difficulties when one of its key partners had to return to Italy for family reasons, so ORA took over in May 2019, gaining a much-needed brewing kit.
The original head brewer here was Simone Cristiano, previously at Barnet Brewery and Brewhouse and Kitchen, though he returned to Italy in 2020. His replacement was Julia Huber, who was born and trained in Germany and once ran a brewery in Greenland.
Simone Cristiano, former ORA head brewer.
The brewery boasted a taproom with a location right by the Lea Valley Park and conveniently midway between a cluster of breweries including Redemption to the north and Beavertown and Pressure Drop to the south.
Sadly, one of London’s most distinctive breweries became another victim of the hostile post-Covid and Brexit economic climate and brewed for the last time in November 2024.
Beers were kegged and occasionally sold in cask, as well as hand-bottled with live yeast, and often contain added flavourings. There were numerous specials and collaborations with both UK and Italian brewers.
Brewery Horsenden Farm, Horsenden Lane North, Greenford UB6 7PQ (Ealing) perivale.beer First sold beer: December 2018
Nestling under Horsenden Hill, a rural oasis managed as a public green space amid deep west London suburbia, Perivale is London’s only farm brewery. It operates from the curtailage of a Victorian farmhouse in an idyllic setting complete with a verdant herb garden draped with hops.
Lead brewer Mike Siddell, who founded it with two friends, is a homebrewer, former London Fields team member and violinist with rock band the Leisure Society. Living on a boat at Southall, a little way east along the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, he was alerted to a vacant space at the farm by a volunteer with the local park Friends group.
The brewery’s original home was a pair of tiny units, little bigger than cupboards, that had previously been occupied by a woodworker. Mike installed the initial 1.2 hl kit from Italian supplier Polsinelli himself. During summer 2021, operations exapnded to a larger shed on another side of the farmyard, equipped with a 4.5 hl kit.
The brewery is open at least monthly for ‘tap days’ and other events at the site.
Beers are filled into keykeg and hand-bottled, and usually only available at the brewery.
Perivale’s original petite Italian-built brewhouse.
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