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
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Also known at various times as Beach’s Ales, Bishop’s Brewery and Market Brewery (Market Porter).
Brewpub no longer brewing Market Porter, 9 Stoney Street SE1 9AA (Southwark) First sold beer: December 1981 (as Market Brewery) Brewing suspended: 1984 Brewing resumed: May 1985 Ceased brewing: 1988
Closed brewery 2 Park Street SE1 9AD (Southwark) First sold beer: November 1993 (as Bishop’s Brewery) Brewing suspended: February 1998 Brewing resumed: 2000 (as Old London Bridge Brewery) Ceased brewing: 2000
The central area of Southwark and the Borough immediately south of London Bridge boasts a tradition of beer appreciation dating from long before the development of the nearby Bermondsey Beer Mile in the 2010s. Historically, it was one of London’s main brewing centres, particularly noted for the Anchor Brewery, otherwise known as Barclay Perkins, as well as the headquarters of the capital’s hop trade. Becky’s Dive Bar, in that part of the cellars of the Hop Exchange on Southwark Street now occupied by the Sheaf, was from the late 1950s one of Britain’s (and the world’s) first ‘craft beer bars’, at its peak offering a choice of around 250 beers and with several of the founders of the modern beer consumer movement among its customers.
The Dive Bar closed for hygiene reasons in 1975, but the beer loving tradition continued in places like the Market Porter, a traditional 1890s pub on a corner site where refreshments for workers at the adjacent Borough Market had been offered since at least the 17th century. Back then, the market was still a fruit and vegetable wholesale market at its busiest early in the morning, and the pub retained (and retains) a license enabling it to open from 06.00-09.00.
In 1981, licensee John Beach decided to further the pub’s developing interest in ‘real ale’ by turning it into a brewpub, installing a small malt extract kit. It was known as the Market Brewery but also used the brand Beach’s Ales after its owner. The next year, Andy Bishop took over the brewing duties, but it apperas that despite his brewing experience at various Firkin pubs, production proved difficult to sustain on the small kit and was suspended in 1984.
Brewing activities resumed the following year with the acquisition of a better, though likely still extract-based, kit, installed in a separate unit at the rear of the premises at 1 Park Street. The pub’s drinking area has since been extended to occupy this space but it’s still readily identifiable as a separate building from the exterior. Once again the names Market Brewery and Beach’s Ales were both used.
Bishop’s Brewery, London SE1.
By 1988 the facility was producing around 12 hl of cask beer a week and supplying two other pubs: its core beers were a bitter at around 3.7% and a special at around 4.7%. Nonetheless it fell out of use later that year, though there was a failed attempt to revive it in 1989.
The kit remained in situ until 1993, when Andy Bishop bought it to set up his own Bishop’s Brewery, moving it to a unit in an old grain warehouse immediately opposite on the other corner of Park Street and Stoney Street. In Spring 1996 he upgraded to a 10 hl full mash plant, making use of the existing split-level floor to stagger the brewing vessels.
By 1997, the brewery was reaching capacity, with five or six brews a week. Like most small breweries of its day it primarily produced cask, with core beers including Cathedral Bitter (3.7%), referring to nearby Southwark Cathedral as well as Andy’s last name, and stronger pale ale Willie’s Revenge (4.7%). Despite this, production ceased at the end of 1998.
In 2000 a new owner bought the lease and equipment and briefly revived production under the name Old London Bridge Brewery but this initiative didn’t survive the year. The kit was removed shortly afterwards and renowned specialist coffee roaster Monmouth Coffee then converted the premises into a shop which still trades today. Monmouth owner Anita LeRoy recalls the market trustees still referring to the space as ‘the brewery’, and the split level layout remains visible.
There’s a pleasing circularity to the fact that Monmouth was one of a group of specialist food and drink businesses that rented arches in Bermondsey’s Druid Street nearby in the 2000s, which is how The Kernel came to be located there initially, inadvertently founding today’s Bermondsey Beer Mile.
Hollywood Bowl Finchley, Leisure Way, High Road N12 0GL (Barnet) First sold beer: 1996
Hollywood Bowl Surrey Quays, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, Surrey Quays Road SE16 7LW (Southwark) First sold beer: 1998
Both ceased brewing: 2000
Both these breweries were the result of a short-lived US-inspired experiment by then-national brewer Bass (see Charrington) to install small 8 hl breweries in its chain of Hollywood Bowl bowling alleys, beginning with its Leicester venue in 1995.
The first London venue in the chain to start brewing was in Finchley the following year. By the time Bass opened a Hollywood Bowl complete with brewing facilities at the new Surrey Quays Leisure Park in 1998, 13 of its bowling alleys were similarly equipped. All the brewhouses were decomissioned in 2000 when Bass sold off its brewing arm to InBev (now AB InBev: see Stag and Whitbread).
The chain subsequently operated as part of Mitchells & Butlers, Bass’s successor managed pub company, until 2010 when it was sold to a new owner. It was sold again in 2015. The Finchley alley remains open, though the Surrey Quays site was closed for redevelopment in 2024.
All the venues brewed keg bitters and lagers to standard recipes.
Brewery moved outside London 114 Randall Road SE11 5JR (Lambeth) hanlonsbrewery.com First sold beer: 1996 Moved outside London: 2000
John O’Hanlon, originally from Kerry, Ireland, and his wife Liz bought a small Grade II-listed ex-Whitbread pub in Clerkenwell, the Three Crowns (8 Tysoe Street EC1R 4RQ), in 1995. They renamed it O’Hanlon’s and it quickly became a popular London Irish pub.
Bored with selling so many pints of Guinness, John decided to try making his own stout, and in March 1996 began brewing in a Vauxhall railway arch on a 13 hl kit installed by Rob Jones (see Pitfield Brewery), initially primarily to supply the pub. His first beer was Port Stout, a dry stout modestly fortified with port wine, based on memories of a Dublin pub that served stout with a dose of port as a ‘corpse reviver’ for tired customers.
The beer caught drinkers’ imagination and further brands followed, with the brewery selling increasing amounts to third party stockists and adding bottled beers. The big supermarkets also began to take an interest.
Struggling with limited space, the O’Hanlons decided to relocate themselves and the brewery to a more rural setting in Devon, in 2000 completing a move to Great Barton Farm, Whimple, Exeter EX5 2NY. The pub was subsequently sold and is now known as the Old China Hand.
The relocated business received substantial investment from business mogul Gerry Robinson after featuring on Dragon’s Den-style TV series Gerry’s Big Decision in 2009. It was sold to new owners in 2014 and renamed simply to Hanlons. The same year it was relocated closer to Exeter at Half Moon Village, Newton St Cyres EX5 5AE where it remains in operation, although no longer produces Port Stout on a regular basis.
Brewery, no visitors please Sidcup DA15 (Bexley) tankleysbrewery.com Active since: November 2015 First sold beer: May 2024
Australian-born homebrewer Glenn Heinzel first brewed commercially under the name Tankleys (an obscure family pun) at UBREW late in 2015. A year later, fellow UBREW users Beerblefish began brewing in their own right on a larger scale at a site in Enfield, and Glenn was brought in full time to run the operations.
Since then Glenn has continued Tankleys as a side project, developing recipes on a Grainfather homebrew kit at his Sidcup home and cuckoo brewing at Beerblefish and elsewhere. In 2023 he revived his brewing license and began brewing commercially at home in spring 2024. This activity is set to increase once a larger 1.6 hl kit is commissioned later in 2024.
Beers are mainly in cask, with some small scale bottling, sold locally and at festivals.
Brewpub Hopewell Square, London E14 0SY (Tower Hamlets) thelockdownroom.com First sold beer: March 2024
As the name Lockdown Room suggests, this popular bar-restaurant and event venue on London City Island, a recent development in a horseshoe meander of the river Lea near Canning Town, evolved from an initiative to supply the community during the lockdowns. Local resident and beer expert Allan was asked to advise on the craft beer side and subsequently helped build it into a noted beer venue supporting numerous independent London breweries.
Allan has since added a 1.5 hl nanobrewery on the mezzanine and is now producing keg beer on a small scale for in-house sales under the Hopewell Brewery name.
5 openings and revivals, 20 suspensions and closures, net change -15.
By the end of December 2023, there were 107 commercial breweries operating in London, including 25 brewpubs. 10 were parts of multinationals (M). Those breweries were:
Babel Beerhouse (formerly Little Creatures Regents Canal) N1, Camden, brewpub REVIVED! was also briefly active this year again under the new ownership of Odyssey, but brewing was suspended again by December 2023 and the business has been sold on again.
Closed this year
BBNo (Brew by Numbers, Bermondsey) SE16, Southwark, closed by May 2023.
Beavertown Brewery (Tottenham Hotspur, Heineken M) N17, Haringey, brewpub, suspended spring 2023 and equipment subsequently removed, production continues at other sites
Boxcar Brewery E2, Tower Hamlets, suspended February 2023, cuckoo brewing shortly afterwards but ceased by June 2024.
Brick Brewery SE8, Lewisham, bought by BREAL Group June 2023 and closed in November with brands relocated to other breweries in the group outside London.
Macintosh Ales N16, Hackney, cuckoo brewing exclusively since July 2023
SALT London (Ossett, formerly Hop Stuff) SE28, Greenwich, closed May 2023, brewing continues outside London and may revive on a brewpub scale at one of the SALT bars in London.
Spartan Brewery SE16, Southwark, closed June 2023 though have subsequently cuckoo brewed, site and kit sold to Battersea to become Battersea Substation
Beer firm, now brewing outside London bigdropbrew.com Active since: October 2016 Brewing transferred outside London: September 2024
Former lawyer Rob Fink and designer James Kindred launched Big Drop as a specialist brewer of beers of 0.5% ABV and less after Rob noticed a gap in the market when he gave up drinking for an extended period. They began by cuckoo brewing at now-closed Bermondsey shared brewery UBREW in 2016 but by 2017 had expanded to partnerships with larger producers, appointing former Wild Beer brewer Johnny Clayton as head of production.
As of 2023, the business is based in Ipswich, Suffolk, though the beer was long brewed in London at Fourpure. The relationship was strengthened in May 2023 through a licensing deal which saw Foupure owner In Good Company invest in Big Drop.
With the closure of Fourpure, brewing has been transferred to In Good Company’s other plant at Magic Rock in Huddersfield, so I’m no longer regarding them as a London-based beer firm.
Beers are in can and keg, in a variety of styles from lagers to brown ales and stouts, including changing specials. They are exported internationally and also brewed in Australia and the USA for local markets.
Christos Daskalopoulos and Matt Dean met when they were both working at an Athens brewpub. Matt later went to Meantime but ended up working alongside Christos again when Greek brewery 56 Isles set up 3 Locks as a London offshoot.
In 2023 the pair got the chance to create their own venture, taking on the former Gravity Well arch under the Overground at Leyton Midland Road. This initially reopened in August as a bar but began producing beer again in November on a venerable 8 hl kit that Matt believes was originally made for a first-generation 1970s microbrewery.
The name is borrowed from a legendary 17th century utopian colony founded by pirates, which practised equality for all irrespective of colour and creed.
Beers are in keg, bottle and can, with cask due to be added early in 2024.
Beer firm, planned brewpub Patchworks, 258 Church Road, London E10 7JQ (Waltham Forest) blondiesbar.co.uk First sold beer: July 2024
Blondies is a popular Clapton bar and music venue opened by sisters Sharmaine and Verity Cox in 2016. The sisters always planned to add their own brewery but struggled to find a site: plans for a railway arch in Hackney fell through in 2019 and the lockdowns frustrated further progress.
Blondie’s in yuletide mode.
In summer 2023, the bar began stocking a house lager and session IPA cuckoo brewed at Mammoth, and on 18 August 2023 the bar at a new brewery and taproom site finally opened in a former furniture factory space a short distance from the river Lea at Leyton.
A 10 hl brewhouse sourced from BritHop was installed with the assistance of Mammoth, but a combination of paperwork and practical issues delayed commissioning. Test brews were successfully completed in December 2023 and commercial brewing followed in mid-2024.
Beers are initially in keg only, sold onsite and at the Blondies bar, though there are plans to expand production to distribute the beers more widely and possibly add a canning facility.
9 openings and revivals, 19 suspensions and closures, net change -10.
By the end of December 2022, there were 122 commercial breweries operating in London, including 27 brewpubs. 11 were parts of multinationals (M). Those breweries were:
Flat Iron Square (Lagunitas, Heineken M, formerly St Felix Place) SE1, Southwark, brewpub, brewing ceased by April 2022, brewing equipment removed by summer 2024.
Goose Island Brewpub Shoreditch (AB InBev M) E1, Hackney, brewpub, ceased brewing when pub sold September 2022 and kit subsequently removed.
Gorgeous Brewery (Bull) N6, Haringey, brewpub, ceased brewing when pub sold February 2022, subsequently merged with a brewer outside London.
Jeffersons Brewery TW9, Richmond upon Thames, ceased brewing September 2022 and company subsequently dissolved.
Laine’s Brew Lab (People’s Park Tavern) E9, Hackney, brewpub, ceased brewing by January 2022, kit removed and sold.
St Felix Place (Laguintas, Heineken M) renamed Flat Iron Square but brewing soon ceased.
SlyBeast Brewing brewpub, host pub Ram Inn sold to new owners without SlyBeast brand, brewing resumes after a brief suspension when Coalition hire the kit.
For definitions of a London brewery, see the current London breweries page.
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