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Brewery Original site: 3 Institute Place E8 1JE (Hackney, brewing ceased March 2021) Current site: 61 Mare Street E8 4RG (Hackney) fivepointsbrewing.co.uk First sold beer: 22 March 2013 (at original site)
Five Points is one of the claimants to the title of London’s biggest independent brewery, producing around 18,000 hl in 2019 with a staff of around 45. It was founded by pub operator Ed Mason with proceeds from the sale of pioneering craft beer bar Mason & Taylor, which became BrewDog Shoreditch. Head brewer Greg Hobbs was recruited from East London Brewing and a 16 hl brewhouse installed in a railway arch under Hackney Downs station, named after the busy five-way road junction at the crossing of Amhurst Road and Dalston Lane only metres away.
A new 32 hl brewhouse from OAL was commissioned in 2015, with the old kit sold to Signature Brew. As well as taking on an adjoining arch and installing outdoor fermenters, Five Points added warehousing and offices at a separate site on Mare Street, a little to the south, in 2016. Unusually, it has both a bottling and a canning line, the former from Beavertown, the latter bought new from ABE LinCan.
The former Beavertown bottling line, in action at Five Points’ first site.
Long lacking a taproom because of its restricted accommodation, in 2018 it bought landmark pub the Pembury Tavern, located right on the eponymous junction, from the Milton brewery in Cambridgeshire.
Following a 2018 crowdfunding campaign that raised £1.1 million against a target of £750,000, the brewery began a frustrating search for a more expansive site. Finally in March 2021 it reconfigured its Mare Street warehouse, transferring brewing there and opening a well-appointed taproom in November, with extensive outdoor space, while continuing to operate the Pembury.
The brewery was also the organiser of the London Brewers Market.
Beers still include a substantial amount of cask in both traditional and contemporary styles, as well as kegs, cans and bottles, with tank dispense for popular brands in the taproom, where specials from a pilot kit are also available. Due to capacity limitations, the Pils has been brewed De Brabandere in Harelbeke, West Flanders, Belgium, but production has since been brought back in house.
Brewpub 46 Essex Street WC2R 3JF (Westminster) templebrewhouse.com/brewery First sold beer: 20 December 2014, as Essex Street Brewing Brewing suspended: March 2020 Brewing restarted: May 2022
Pub chain the City Pub Co already had brewpubs in Bath and Cambridge when it added a London branch near the Temple late in 2014. An 8 hl kit was squeezed into a stairwell, with some serious ventilation equipment installed after the lawyers upstairs complained about the smell (their loss). Though the pub was known as the Temple Brew House, the brewery originally traded under the Essex Street brand.
Long claiming to be “London’s most central brewery”, it was a lively participant in the local brewing scene under the guidance of longstanding head brewer Vanesa de Blas.
The pub was closed with brewing suspended during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns. After some uncertainty about its future, it was finally reopened in Feburary 2022 with brewing restored in May.
Vanesa is now based at a sister brewpub the Cambridge Brew House but, as this has a smaller kit, she regularly visits London to brew longer runs. In August 2022, the Essex Street brand was dropped with all beers appearing under the Temple Brew House name.
In November 2023, the pub was sold to the Young’s pub company, along with the other 53 sites in the group. So far, though, brewing continues as normal.
Beers are in keg and cask, many of them gluten-free, sold on-site and at other City Pubs sites. There have been numerous collaborations including with Toast Ale.
Brewery 45 Fairways Business Centre, Lammas Road E10 7QB (Waltham Forest) eastlondonbrewing.com First sold beer: September 2011
Former research and development chemist Stu Lascelles switched career paths in the autumn of 2011 by setting up East London Brewing (sometimes known as ELB) with his wife Claire Ashbridge-Thomlinson. The first in what’s now a developing cluster of beer producers around Lea Bridge station, it began with a 16 hl plant and open fermenters installed by Dave Porter of PBC in a single unit on an industrial estate between the railway and the Lee Valley Park.
Stu Lascelles of East London Brewing Co
It’s since expanded into two other adjacent units. In July 2019, the installation was upgraded to a 40 hl kit with improved fermenters supplied by Johnson Brewing Design. The new head brewer, Adrian Morales-Maillo, is formerly of Naparbier in Barcelona.
Due to the limitations of the site, the brewery is open only for occasional open days and special events but sells beer to take away during normal working hours. An offsite taproom is planned for 2022.
East London initially brewed mainly cask beers and the format still accounts for 60% of its output. Most beers are also available bottled or canned, mainly using an off-site contractor, but some are bottle-conditioned at the brewery. Beers are also packaged as bag-in-box.
Brewery now brewing outside London A007 The Chocolate Factory, 5 Clarendon Road N22 6XJ (Haringey) earthale.com First sold beer: July 2015 Ceased brewing in London: November 2021
This project was the brainchild of professional chef Alex Lewis, a specialist in foraged ingredients who began brewing commercially on a very small scale at home for a series of beer and food matching dinners he hosted at various south London venues in 2015.
All aboard the beer bus: the former Earth Tap in Wood Green.
Following a period of cuckoo brewing, Alex opened a taproom in the unusual location of a disused double-decker bus shared with a daytime café in Blue House Yard, Wood Green. He found space for his own brewery a short walk from the bus in July 2018, in the former Barratt’s biscuit factory, then known as the Chocolate Factory. A 200 l kit was used as a stopgap until April 2019 when beer began flowing from a more professional 10 hl brewhouse.
Alex had to quit the Chocolate Factory in November 2021 as it was due for demolition and redevelopment. He found a new site outside London at a vineyard near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The demands of relocation made it impractical to continue with the bus too, so sadly London lost one of its most interesting breweries and quirkiest beer venues.
While most recent brewery start-ups in London are the work of enterprising homebrewers, Portobello was an initiative from the established industry. Back in 2006, Rob Jenkins, formerly at Whitbread, Brakspear, Young’s and Wells, was in discussion with other now-redundant Young’s employees John Hatch and Derek Prentice about setting up a successor to the Wandsworth brewery, but things worked out differently and he ended up creating Portobello with head brewer Farooq Khalid. In 2013 they were joined by Joe Laventure, previously with Whitbread and Budvar UK.
The brewery began with a relatively generous 30 hl kit in an industrial unit on an estate between Wormwood Scrubs and Eurostar’s North Pole depot. In 2014, the original kit was replaced with a larger 50 hl model, with fermentation capacity extended several times. The brewery expanded to the next-door unit in 2021, with plans to increase annual production to 10,000 hl and to open a long-desired taproom in 2022.
Though an arrangement with Remarkable Pubs in 2018 to take over the microbrewery at the George and Dragon in Acton was abandoned soon after it launched, in 2019 the company gained its own first pub, the King and Co in Clapham. It soon added the Hack and Hop in the City of London, though this has since closed for redevelopment. The pub estate increased abrubtly to 15 sites in November 2020 following a deal with property company Downing, adding numerous pubs formerly managed by the Antic group.
Portobello’s substantial unit by the Eurostar depot.
The brewery confirmed on 11 October 2024 that it had been bought by Sunrise Alliance. For the moment, co-founder Rob Jenkins remains in charge, with no job losses and production continuing in London.
The new owner originated in 2006 as St Peter’s brewery near Bungay, and began expanding in 2023 with the acquisition of Curious Brew in Ashford, Kent, which already owned the Wild Beer brand. A few weeks after the Portobello deal, Sunrise acquired an interest in another London brewer, Gipsy Hill.
Beers “brewed the West Way” are in cask, keg, can and bottle, widely sold through pub chains and supermarkets. The original vision was to produce mainly cask, but although still important this is now only 30% of the business, with 60% of production craft lager in keg and can. The brewery cans and bottles offsite, mainly at Marston’s in Burton upon Trent, but this may change with the additional space.
Brewery 6 Vulcan Business Centre, Vulcan Way, New Addington, Croydon CR0 9UG (Croydon) thecronx.com First sold beer: 6 August 2012
Drinks wholesaler Mark Russell and city worker-turned-brewer Simon Dale founded the Cronx as the first standalone brewery in Croydon since Page and Overton closed in 1954, operating from a 20 hl plant in an industrial estate in New Addington. Fermentation capacity has increased several times and Simon has moved on, but Mark remains as managing director.
The name jokingly blends the name of an equally outlying New York City borough with Croydon’s postcode.
The production site, while open for pre-arranged collection, is unsuitable for a regular taproom. In October 2016, the brewery opened an off-site taproom as one of inaugural businesses at the Boxpark next door to East Croydon station, but a combination of circumstances led to them giving up the lease on this in September 2021. A new taproom finally opened in central Croydon (71 High Street CR0 1QE) in May 2023.
Beers are mainly in keg, with some available in cask, can, bottle, minikeg and bag-in-box,.
A rather simplified diagram of the brewing process at the former Cronx Bar.
Beer firm, former brewpub, no longer brewing 7 Queens Yard, White Post Lane E9 5EN (Tower Hamlets) cratebrewery.com First sold beer: 18 July 2012 Brewing ceased: July 2020
Opened just in time for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by New Zealanders Tom and Jess Seaton, of the Counter Café nearby, and friend and brewer Neil Hinchley, this brewpub in the White Building, a former sweet factory beside the River Lea Navigation, was the first new brewing initiative in the post-industrial arts and media colony at Hackney Wick.
At first, beers were brewed on an 8 hl kit from AB-UK behind glass in the bar, but in summer 2014, a new 16 hl brewhouse formerly at Ascot Ales was installed together with a pilot kit in a newly renovated location across the yard known as the Brew-Shed. In 2018, the business, by then producing around 10,000 hl a year under the guidance of head brewer Calum Bennett, secured a lease on the entire White Building and crowdfunded for a major refurbishment and expansion. The plan was to revive brewing in the pub itself, making limited edition specials alongside the core brands from the production brewery.
Unfortunately, these plans were severely disrupted by the Covid-19 lockdowns and in July 2020 the brewing side of the business was forced into administration. The Brew-Shed facility was bought by Truman’s, now Big Penny, and subsequently closed. All Crate-branded beers are now cuckoo-brewed outside London.
The original brewpub is still open as a bar and restaurant. The original brewing kit remained in place for some time with a professed intention to revive it, but had been removed by early 2023.
Crate seen across the canal from the Lea Valley Path.
At its peak, Crate brewed contemporary-style ales and lagers in keg, bottle and can which were relatively widely available, including in major supermarkets. It also produced some cask, mainly for sale in the brewpub.
Brewery Original site: 8 Tyrrell Trading Estate, Tyrrell Road SE22 9NA (Southwark) Second site: 283 Belinda Road SW9 7DT (Lambeth) Current site: 497 Ridgway Road SW9 7EX (Lambeth) clarkshaws.co.uk First sold beer: 29 September 2013 (at original site)
Self-styled “beer imps” Ian Clark and Lucy Grimshaw’s enterprise began in a small industrial unit in East Dulwich. It expanded in early 2015 to a railway arch near Loughborough Junction in partnership with the London Beer Lab, with the intention of sharing the 8 hl kit with other small brewers.
Lucy and Ian of Clarkshaws.
This didn’t work out, and Lucy and Ian took the unusual decision to downscale rather than attempt to expand, figuring that a smaller brewery selling mainly through an on-site taproom would suit them better both financially and in lifestyle terms. They completed the move to their current home, in another arch close to Loughborough Junction station, in October 2017, installing a compact 1.5 hl brewhouse and three small but high-spec cylindroconical fermenters, with the old kit going to Southey.
For a while they supplemented their capacity by cuckoo brewing at Bexley in response to the occasional big order, with their own fermenter kept on the site, but this arrangement had ceased by the end of 2019.
The brewery works hard to reduce its environmental impact and makes a point of using UK ingredients even for its hop-forward beers. Its products are all unfined and vegan friendly, packaged in cask, keg and minikeg and hand bottled. They’re mainly sold directly through the taproom and on market stalls.
Brewery Arch 1127 Bath Factory Estate, 41 Norwood Road SE24 9AJ (Southwark) birdhouselondon.com First sold beer (as Canopy): 30 October 2014 Brewing suspended: November 2022 Brewing resumed (as Bird House): March 2024
Small independent hospitality group Bird House was founded by Frazer Timmerman, formerly at London Fields and Truman’s, with Wil Fuller, who previously worked for several pub groups. Its first site, opened in 2019, was The Hawks Nest, a railway arch bar in Shepherds Bush. This was followed by two venues in Peckham, also in arches.
In 2023, the group acquired the site and equipment of the former and much-loved Canopy brewery, located alongside various mechanics in a railway arch under the Thameslink line near Herne Hill station and Brockwell Park. Restoring production and refurbishing the taproom took longer than expected, but was finally completed by the end of March 2024 when the arch reopened under the name Bird House Brewery.
The head brewer is Heriot-Watt-trained William Hiscocks, who initially plans to brew mainly for the company’s own outlets, though with the possibility of expansion to supply third parties too: the brewery plans to extend into the next-door arch late in 2024.
Beers are in tank and keg though cask may appear among the changing specials. A canning line should follow once space is available.
Canopy was founded by Estelle and Matt Theobalds after the birth of their first child prompted a lifestyle change, beginning with 6.5 hl kit from a brewery in Wakefield that never got off the ground.
Canopy Brewing, London SE24
The installation evolved through various often home-built additions until it was capable of producing 18 hl, with a canning line added to coincide with a rebrand in autumn 2018. An atmospheric taproom was much appreciated locally.
Production was around 60% keg, 40% canned, with a small amount of cask and minikeg.
The brewery sadly announced its closure in November 2022, stating that “the current economic situation makes our position untenable. We are choosing to close in order that we have control over the process…We have tried, without being afraid of failing.” Brewing had already ceased by the time the closure was announced, though trading of existing stock continued until the end of December.
Camden Town Brewery, London NW5 and Enfield (London) EN3
Formerly Horseshoe Brewery, McLaughlins.
Breweries Original site: Horseshoe, 28 Heath Street NW3 6TE (Camden) Arch 55 brewery and beer hall: 55 Wilkin Street Mews NW5 3NN (Camden) Production brewery: Morson Road, Enfield EN3 4TJ (Enfield) camdentownbrewery.com First sold beer: May 2006 (as McLaughlins)
Now one of London’s biggest breweries, Camden Town began with a single vessel in the cellar of Hampstead pub the Horseshoe: look carefully and you’ll see a horseshoe still appears on the logo. The first brews bore the name McLaughlins, from a long-closed brewery in Rockhampton, Queensland, once owned by founder Jasper Cuppaidge’s family.
Struck by the popularity of his beer among pub customers, Jasper found investment to expand with the help of friends and family, including his father-in-law, prominent advertising executive John Hegarty, and pub and bar group Barworks (see Saint Monday Brewery). The expanded brewery was relaunched in June 2010 using a 20 hl computerised brewhouse from BrauKon, Germany, installed under two railway arches by Kentish Town West station. The site has expanded several times since and now occupies an entire run of arches.
Camden Town’s ‘Big Brewery’ makes no secret of its flagship brand.
In May 2013, Camden Town became the first new London brewery, and one of the first microbreweries in Britain, to invest in a canning line. By 2014 growth in demand had necessitated contract brewing some of the beer in Belgium. In February 2015 the brewery launched a crowd funding campaign to raise £1.5 million with the intention of expanding to a new site.
Then just before Christmas 2015, Camden Town announced it had been bought by the world’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, in a deal thought to be worth £85 million, the second multinational acquisition of a London craft brewer following Meantime. Crowdfunders were offered what was reported as a 70% premium to sell back shares. Initially, the business continued to operate as a separate company within the group, with Jasper as chief executive.
AB InBev’s involvement enabled a major expansion with £30 million invested in a new and much bigger site on an industrial estate in the Lea Valley in Enfield. In operation since June 2017, at the time this represented the biggest new brewing facility created in London since Guinness opened the now-closed Park Royal in 1936, a feat Camden also previously achieved with its 2010 expansion. Brewing is now a 24-hour operation: the 100 hl brewhouse supplied by German company Krones can brew 12 times a day to fill 36 fermenters; the total capacity is around 200,000 hl a year with space to increase to 350,000 hl, enabling all brewing to brought back in-house.
In 2021, the brewery was fully integrated into AB InBev’s UK brewing operation, Budweiser Brewing Group, though Jasper was retained as a consultant.
The Enfield brewery was built with a visitor centre and taproom but these have never regularly opened to the public. The Kentish Town site has been retained as a brewery as well as a taproom, now mainly producing specials under the Arch 55 brand: the public areas were refashioned in 2021 into a Bavarian-inspired ‘beer hall’. Camden Town still owns the Horseshoe, and though a second pub, Camden’s Daughter, was closed after three years of operation in 2018, there are plans for more pubs in future.
Numerous talented brewers have worked for Camden Town. Troels Prahl of yeast supplier Whitelabs helped develop the initial recipes and establish good fermentation practices. Rob Topham, formerly of Fuller’s, was involved in commissioning the 2010 brewhouse, and is still head brewer. Brewing director Alex Troncoso left in 2016 to set up Lost and Grounded in Bristol.
Camden Town beer is unpasteurised but packaged bright, with over 80% sold in keg, the rest in can and bottle. Most of the beer produced is lager.
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London’s Best Beer
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