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Licensed trade veteran Michael Breen began planning a Soho brewpub in 2013 but the project was held up by unexpected difficulties. He finally launched Soho Lager in 2019, devised by former Guinness master brewery Fergal Murray and initially brewed at Hepworth in Sussex.
Further beers are planned, and the brewpub is still on the long-term agenda.
There’s no relationship with the late 1990s Soho brewpub in Covent Garden (see Freedom).
Founded by Jesse Wilson, a descendant of brewers and publicans, Jubel markets a range of gluten-free, vegan-friendly “craft lagers cut with fruit”. Brewing currently takes place at Camerons in Hartlepool.
Beer firm, planned brewery 2A-2, 133 Copeland Park, Copeland Road, London SE15 3SN (Southwark) ekobrewery.com Active since: 2018
Anthony and Helena Adedipe’s project, borrowing the Yoruba name for Lagos, gives an African twist to contemporary style brews, using ingredients like palm sugar and South African hops. They’ve been cuckoo brewing since 2018 at a variety of sites in London and elsewhere, including Cloudwater, Hambleton and Wildcard.
In 2023 they had an unexpected opportunity to create their own venue, opened on 28 October as a taproom in the former Kanpai unit in Peckham’s post-industrial Copeland Park. There’s no brewhouse yet, but this should follow in 2024 in a space reserved at the back.
Beers are in keg, bottle and can, with bottles likely to be retained for the restaurant trade.
Launched by London-based Scots Duncan Keith and Mike Gammell in 2020, this is another contributor to the expanding choice of decent low and no alcohol beers. A lager and a pale ale are brewed in Scotland using a special technique of fermentation control to achieve 0% ABV.
Former beer firm, brewery outside London Highfields Farm, The Broyle, Ringmer, Lewes BN8 5AR (East Sussex) brithopbeer.com Active since: June 2018
Stuart Holland started this part-time enterprise in September 2017, based in Belvedere (Bexley) but cuckoo-brewing at Franklins in Sussex. Originally he planned to open his own brewery and taproom in southeast London but instead moved in January 2022 to take over the former facilities of Franklins, which has relocated to a bigger site at Ringmer just outside Brighton. So this is no longer a planned London brewery.
Beers with brands inspired by the indie music of the 1990s are in cask, keg and can.
Beavertown’s original brewery, still in action as a pilot at the Tottenham Hale site.
16 openings or revivals, 14 suspensions or closures, net change +2.
By the end of December 2020, there were 132 commercial breweries operating in London, including 29 brewpubs. 14 were parts of multinationals (M). Those breweries were:
Lockdowns aimed at containing the spread of the Covid-19 virus are put in place from 20 March, effectively closing all hospitality venues in the UK. Trading conditions won’t return to normal until July 2021.
Affinity Brew Co relocated to Grosvenor Arms, with Three Hills taking over previous site.
Shared brewery 92 Enid Street SE16 4AW (Southwark) mashpaddlebrewery.com First sold beer: June 2022
Nick Harkin, a homebrewer with a background in financial services, is the man behind this communal brewery in the heart of Bermondsey, which opened following a successful crowdfunding round in summer 2021.
Mash Paddle offers homebrewing beginners to brew their own beer on professional-grade homebrew-sized kits, with a commercial license, its own small batch brands and onsite taproom, a little like the now-defunct UBREW. It’s also a social enterprise, working to support people with criminal convictions.
Finding a suitable home for the project proved more challenging then expected, but an announcement on 30 January 2022 confirmed that it had secured a site in Enid Street between Bianca Road and the Kernel.
‘Soft opening’ began in June, initially only with a bar stocking other people’s beer, but a few small-scale trial brews began to appear soon afterwards. Full brewing facilities were delayed a little while a more powerful electricity supply was installed but the site was fully operational by September 2022. There are two 40 l SS Tech kits with separate vessels, and two 30 l ‘all-in-one’ Grainfathers, plus various miniature cylindroconical fermentation vessels and a hand canning machine
Demand for house beers has been so strong that they are now mainly cuckoo brewed at Bianca Road and Distortion, though in spring 2024 the brewery is planning to add its own larger kit so it can produce at more commercial scale.
Own beers are in keg and can, with the facility to can beers also available to other users.
Brewpub no longer brewing 45 Southwark Street SE1 9HP (Southwark) flatironsquare.co.uk First sold beer: May 2021 (as St Felix Place) Ceased brewing: by April 2022
In two historic railway arches close to Borough Market, this combined brewpub and food court was initially a collaboration between musician Ben Lovett’s Venue Group and Lagunitas, one of the US breweries owned by Heineken.
Lagunitas was founded as an independent craft brewery in 1993 in the town of the same name in California’s Bay Area, though moved a year later to Petaluma not far away. In 2014, it opened a second production site in Chicago, Illinois. Heineken bought 50% of the company in 2015 and the remainder in 2017.
On first opening, the London venue was known as St Felix Place. It closed temporarily over the holiday period of 2021-22 and reopened in January with reconfigured outdoor space under the name Flat Iron Square. Staff from Brixton brewery, another Heineken subsidiary, took over the brewing, but it seems this only lasted a few months.
The equipment had been removed by summer 2024 and the link to Heineken has apparently loosened: the bar now also stocks both mainstream and ‘crafty’ brands from other multinationals like AB InBev as well as the occasional independent.
Cosed brewery Ealing W5 (Ealing) First sold beer: October 2020 Brewing ceased: January 2022
Brewers Thomas and Martin, who grew up locally, took responsibility for every aspect of the brewing process at this small home-based operation, working as sustainably as possible with a 2.5 hl kit.
Motivated partly by the relative paucity of breweries in west London, they created considerable interest locally and planned to expand to a bigger site with taproom. Unfortunately market conditions were not in their favour and brewing reportedly ceased early in 2022.
The origin of the name will be obvious to anyone who has noted the bird life in the average London park recently.
Brewery, visitors by appointment only Petts Wood BR5 (Bromley) marlix.co.uk First sold beer: December 2020
Old friends Mark Irwin and Alex Mears had been homebrewing together for 20 years before starting this part-time, home-based brewery, currently in action once a month at the weekend.
Beers are brewed in small batches for sale through local outlets, almost entirely in cask.
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London’s Best Beer
The fully updated 3rd edition of my essential award-winning guide to London’s vibrant beer scene is available now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
