The Firkin Brewery (Bruce’s Brewery, Allied)

Brewpubs closed or no longer brewing

Goose and Firkin (Duke of York), 47 Borough Road SE1 1DR (Southwark)
and eventually at 19 other London locations: see list below.
First sold beer: July 1979
Ceased brewing at all sites: October 1999

The Firkin brewpub chain was one of the most prominent features of the UK beer scene in the 1980s and 1990s, at its peak boasting around 60 brewpubs across the UK and over 100 more non-brewing venues, plus a handful in France and the Netherlands. Its outlets were many drinkers’ introduction to the concept of a brewpub and it left a significant legacy, in terms of inspiration, brewing equipment and experienced brewers. The chain originated in London and the city continued to boast the highest concentration of branches: eventually over 50, 19 of them with breweries.

Firkin founder David Bruce began his career in the industry in his teens as a trainee at national brewer Courage, and was briefly head brewer at Theakston’s in Masham, North Yorkshire. After various jobs in hospitality, in the late 1970s he was living in south London, unemployed and filling his time by going on long runs. On one of these he spotted a derelict former Truman pub, the Duke of York, in the Borough. Closed pubs were a relatively rare sight in London before closures accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s, and there wasn’t yet major pressure to convert them to other uses, so David, who had long harboured the ambition to own a brewery, was able to rent the building for £10,000 and convert it into a brewpub.

David sought the help of Peter Austin, who had retired in 1975 after a long career at Hull Brewery where he’d eventually become head brewer. In 1977 he helped found one of the UK’s earliest microbreweries, Penrhos in Herefordshire, with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, and went on to found his own brewery, Ringwood in Hampshire, in 1978 (still around today, though owned by Carlsberg). Peter subsequently designed and installed equipment and provided advice for around 140 new microbreweries in the UK, USA and many other countries.

Drinking establishments that brewed and sold their own beer were a common feature of the brewing landscape for many hundreds of years, but in modern times were largely outcompeted on quality, consistency and economies of scale by bigger, dedicated breweries. By the time the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971, only four remained in the UK. But the emergence of microbreweries serving increasingly more discriminating and engaged customers provoked renewed interest in the brewpub model.

With nearly all pubs tied to established breweries and obliged to stock their products exclusively, new entrants faced major barriers to market. Taprooms as we now understand them were unheard of, but brewpubs offered a potential solution by combining production and retail in a single package. David Bruce wasn’t the first to open a new brewpub: their numbers had already doubled by 1979. But he was the first to popularise the idea, creating a concept that could be rolled out on a large scale.

Peter Austin equipped the pub with an 8 hl malt extract brewing kit. Extract brewing was at that time the most popular method among homebrewers and adopted by many of the first wave of new brewpubs. Full-scale commercial brewing uses the ‘full mash’ method, starting with dry crushed malt which is ‘mashed’: mixed with hot water to release enzymes which then convert the starches in the grains into fermentable sugars. The resulting sweet liquid, wort, is then boiled with hops and fermented to create beer.

Extract brewing skips the first step by starting with malt extract, effectively a concentrated wort which is simply diluted with water for the hop boil. The process is simpler and quicker and requires fewer vessels, reducing capital expense and taking up less space. In this case the main driver was space, as the brewhouse had to fit into little more than a cupboard in the basement. But using extract limits opportunities for the brewer’s creativity and control, and almost always results in a less characterful end result than the traditional full mash.

Despite this, and the fact that the beer was deliberately priced a little higher than average, the venture was a great success, with queues outside on opening day in July 1979. David renamed the pub the Goose and Firkin, a name that had once belonged to a long-defunct Theakston pub. A firkin is a traditional size of beer cask containing nine gallons (41 l), referencing the brewing theme.

David has said he didn’t notice at first that the word is phonetically similar to an impolite term for the sex act often used as a swearword, which is plausible given his background in brewing and pubs, where the term is in common use. But undoubtedly this association gave a helpfully risqué edge. Customers also appreciated the novelty of drinking beer within a few metres of where it was brewed, and the decor, which partly due to lack of funds was what we’d now call fashionably distressed, completed a novel and attractive package.

Success prompted expansion to a second site in Lewisham, opened in 1980 as the Fox and Firkin. Once again the pub had its own brewery, this time a full mash kit visible from the bar area for extra impact. The suggestiveness of the name was now fully embraced, spawning a host of punning T-shirt slogans like the notorious “For fox sake buy me a firkin pint”. As a result, the Fox became the best-known of all the pubs, its name synonyomous with the chain, and many people mistakenly assume it was the first. Alliteration became customary in the naming of subsequent venues, all of which had an initial ‘f’ sound in their first word. The company adopted a motto, Usque ad mortem bibendum (Until I drink to death), a sentiment which certainly wouldn’t be acceptable in alcohol branding today.

The next opening, in 1982, was the first outside London: the Fleece and Firkin in Bristol. Other branches followed at a steady pace in London and elsewhere over the next few years. Their success inevitably inspired imitators, not only independent operators but the big brewing groups, who then, as now, were struggling to take advantage of trends in the market which had caught them unawares. One was Watney’s Clifton Inns, which opened its first London site at the Orange in Pimlico in 1983. Allied and Whitbread also dabbled, and by 1985 there were more than 70 brewpubs in the UK, a good proportion owned by major breweries.

Firkin pubs typically brewed a bitter branded exclusively to the specific pub and a handful of other beers and specials. But the most famous brand, brewed to the same recipe across all outlets, was Dogbolter (5.6%), a dark porter-inspired beer which was regarded at the time as exceptionally and dangerously strong. Despite the importance and success of the breweries, expert evaluations of their beers are often indifferent, but the original Dogbolter remains fondly remembered.

By 1987 the chain had expanded to 11 brewpubs, of which seven were in London, and two non-brewing venues. At this point David decided to sell, with the pubs and brands bought by hospitality operator Midsummer Leisure for £6.6 million. They were subsequently sold on twice, finally acquired in 1991 by Allied Lyons, formerly Allied Breweries, one of the ‘Big Seven’ UK brewing groups that emerged in the 1970s and partly descended from Romford brewer Ind Coope.

This was at a time when the beer and pubs industry was starting to undergo major structural shifts, in the wake of a regulatory change in 1990 aimed at limiting the ability of big brewing groups to enforce the tie on pubs. Breweries began to separate their pub estates from their production, eventually creating a new raft of large pub-owning companies or pubcos.

In 1992, Allied sold its brewing interests to Carlsberg, continuing as a hospitality operator. At this point the rollout of the Firkin concept began in earnest, with many more pubs added across the UK including London, a significant proportion without their own breweries. CAMRA coined the disparaging term ‘Firkinisation’ to describe this phenomenon. The business also expanded internationally, beginning with the opening of the Fiddler and Firkin brewpub in Den Haag, Netherlands, in 1996.

The same forces that prompted the expansion of the chain eventually brought about its dismantling, as sales, mergers and takeovers became common in what was now essentially a branch of the property market rather than an outgrowth of the brewing industry. By 1999 Allied, which had become Allied Domecq in 1994 following a merger with the international wines and spirits company, found its pubs business the object of a successful hostile takeover bid by pubco Punch Taverns, with backing from Bass. Punch, which was primarily interested in the pub sites, promptly shut down the brewing side of the Firkins in the UK and sold the majority of them to Bass. In October 1999, London lost 17 of its 34 breweries almost overnight when all its Firkins officially ceased brewing, although I understand some of them continued into the early weeks of 2000. Punch retained the brand for a while but phased this out in 2001. Many of the pubs have sinced passed on to other owners as shown below.

David Bruce subsequently co-founded or helped develop several other pub chains and breweries in the UK, US and France including Elysian Brewing and the Frog and Rosbif. His Capital Pubs chain, founded in 2000, was a contributor to the more recent revival of London brewing when it added brewhouses at two of its sites in 2007: see Florence Brewery. In 2013, David became chairman of and main investor in the West Berkshire Brewery in Thatcham, but left in 2021 when the company went into administration: it’s now under new ownership.

Meanwhile, the demise of brewing at the Firkins released a pool of trained brewers and brewing equipment which helped fuel the exponential growth of UK microbrewing in the 21st century. Several of today’s prominent craft breweries got their start on ex-Firkin kits. Former Firkin brewers who contributed to the more recent growth of London brewing include Stephen Lawson, who also once worked for Pitfield and is now head brewer at Volden, and Eddie Baines, the original head brewer at Tap East.

Another prominent ex-Firkin brewer is Eddie Gadd, one of the few to continue brewing Firkin beers after the 1999 shutdown as he was then based at the Fiddler in Den Haag, where brewing persisted for a few more years. Returning to the UK, he set up the much-admired Gadds Ramsgate Brewery in Kent. He owns the Dogbolter brand and the beer is now part of his core range. When David Bruce revived the original recipe at West Berkshire in 2014 to mark his inclusion in a book, he had to seek Eddie’s permission.

Firkin brewpubs in London

This list is based on the best information I have available and may not be entirely accurate as nobody at the time, as far as I know, was systematically tracking such details. As mentioned above, not all Firkin pubs had their own breweries, though I’m fairly confident those listed below did have breweries which were active for at least some periods during the dates shown. As often with brewpub chains, the pubs regularly interchanged beer with each other, and if one pub had a technical problem or no trained brewer was available, it might simply suspend brewing indefinitely and source from a sister pub. I believe all the breweries were full mash except for the Goose which, as explained above, was a malt extract brewery. The list is in order of pub openings. I’m grateful for any comments and corrections.

• Goose and Firkin (Duke of York) 47 Borough Road SE1 1DR (Southwark), July 1979-1995 (prior to the main closure). Now a Shepherd Neame pub under its original name.
• Fox and Firkin (Black Bull) 316 Lewisham High Street SE13 6JZ (Lewisham), 1980-October 1999. The only London Firkin pub still using its David Bruce era name, now an independently operated music pub which became a brewpub again in October 2023.
• Frog and Firkin (Tavistock Arms) 41 Tavistock Crescent W11 1AD (Kensington & Chelsea), February 1981-1995. The pub featured in several films and TV dramas, most famously Withnail and I (1987). It went by several invented names after leaving the Firkin chain but had reverted to Tavistock Arms by 2009 when it became the first and so far only former London Firkin brewpub to be demolished completely, replaced by a block of flats.
• Ferret and Firkin (Balloon Tavern) 114 Lots Road SW19 0RJ (Kensington & Chelsea), 1983-October 1999. Now operated by Market Taverns as the Lots Road Pub and Dining Room.
• Phoenix and Firkin Denmark Hill Station, Windsor Walk SE5 8BB (Southwark), 1984-October 1999. The former Victorian ticket hall of Denmark Hill station, badly damaged in an arson attack in 1980 and carefully restored with the cooperation of the Camberwell Society. Now a Mitchells and Butlers Castle pub, the Phoenix.
• Flounder and Firkin (Lamb) 54 Holloway Road N7 8JL (Islington), March 1985-October 1999. Originally the tap of the Highbury Brewery, founded around 1740 and bought and closed by Taylor Walker in 1912, though the pub continued in use. Now once again known as the Lamb, a rather good independently managed pub with a range of local beer.
• Falcon and Firkin (Queen’s Head) 360 Victoria Park Road E9 7BT (Hackney), January 1986-October 1999. This grand and expansive pub, built in 1865 on the edge of Victoria Park, was the largest of the Firkin brewpubs, supplying beer to numerous other venues. In 2014 it became a brewpub for a second time as the People’s Park Tavern, part of the Laine group. But brewing never recovered from the 2020-21 lockdowns and in early 2022 it became just a pub again when the kit was removed.
• Flamingo and Firkin (Three Tuns) 88 London Road, Kingston KT2 6PX (Kingston upon Thames), September 1987-January 1988. This pub enjoyed only a few months as a Firkin, but continued to brew until 1998 under subsequent owners: see Clifton Inns. The name was reused for a Firkin in Derby.
• Friar and Firkin (Rising Sun) 120 Euston Road NW1 2AL (Camden), May 1992-October 1999. Now a Mitchells & Butlers Castle pub known as the Rocket.
• Fiddler and Firkin (Duke’s Head) 14 South End, Croydon CR0 1DL (Croydon), mid-1993-October 1999. Not to be confused with the Firkin pub of the same name in Den Haag, Netherlands. After a period as a Turkish restaurant, the building returned to pub use in 2021 under the name King of the South.
• Flyman and Firkin 166 Shaftesbury Avenue WC2H 8JB (Camden), September 1993-October 1999. West End pub converted from a hairdressing supplier. House beers were dispensed from pressurised tanks, alongside cask beers brewed at the Falcon. Became part of Mitchells & Butlers O’Neill’s Irish-themed chain then, in 2007, a Thai Square restaurant.
• Friesian and Firkin (Bulls Head) 87 Rectory Grove SW4 0DR (Lambeth), late 1993-September 1999. Now an independently operated pub called the Pigs Head.
• Pharoah and Firkin 90 Fulham High Street SW6 3LF (Hammersmith & Fulham) 1994-October 1999. A Grade II-listed converted former temperance billiard hall, now a Stonegate pub called the Temperance.
• Flicker and Firkin Dukes Yard, 1 Duke Street, Richmond TW9 1HP (Richmond upon Thames), September 1994-October 1999. A conversion based around a yard off Richmond Green, this is now No 1 Duke Street, part of the Darwin & Wallace pub-restaurant chain.
• Photographer and Firkin 25 High Street W5 5DB (Ealing) Late 1995-October 1999. Pub in central Ealing converted from a former department store, this became part of Mitchells & Butlers O’Neill’s Irish-themed chain in 2000 but in 2014 was remodelled as one of their more upmarket Castle pubs, renamed the Drapers Arms.
• Fringe and Firkin (White Horse, Bush) 2 Goldhawk Road W12 8QD (Hammersmith & Fulham) Early 1997-October 1999. This corner opposite Shepherds Bush Green once housed the White Horse brewery, thought to have been active from the late 18th century. By the 1880s it was known as Fisher & Large, with the brewery tap known simply as the Brewery Tavern. Brewing had likely stopped by 1890 when new owners rebuilt the pub into its present form, with a distinctive terracotta frontage on the upper floors. The White Horse name was originally restored but the pub was renamed again as the Bush in 1899, a name it retained until becoming a Firkin. Now a Mitchells & Butlers Castle pub, the Sindercombe Social.
• Faraday and Firkin 66 Battersea Rise SW11 1EQ (Wandsworth) Spring 1997-October 1999. Another conversion of a former temperance billiard hall. Became a Mitchells & Butlers O’Neill’s Irish-themed pub but now one of their Castle pubs, the Goat. The brewery was in a separate neighbouring unit, now a shop.
• Philatelist and Firkin 27 East Street Bromley BR1 1QE (Bromley) May 1997-October 1999. Converted from a building used as an extension of the nearby Royal Mail sorting office, thus the name. Became a Mitchells & Butlers O’Neill’s Irish-themed pub and, unusually, still is.
• Fantail and Firkin 87 Muswell Hill Broadway N10 3HA (Haringey) Summer 1997-October 1999. Built in 1903 as a presbyterian church. Became a Mitchells & Butlers O’Neill’s Irish-themed pub then in 2017 part of their Miller & Carter steak restaurant chain. More recently they’ve been seeking to sell it.
• Ford and Firkin (White Hart) 15 High Street, Romford RM1 1JU (Havering) 1997-October 1999. 1896 pub building on a historic site that may have been an inn as far back as 1489. Changed names several times after its Firkin period, including the Ford and most recently the Bitter End. Closed 2012 and currently derelict, the only surviving building on this list no longer in use as a hospitality venue.

I’d particularly like to thank the following, whose work I’ve relied on disproportionately for this piece:

• John Paul Adams, for sharing his personal records of Firkin pubs in London
• The Beeralist, who summarised the history of the chain in a still-useful blog piece at Good beer, good pubs back in 2000
• Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey, for their treatment of the subject in their 2014 book Brew Britannia.
• Mike Brown’s comprehensive Brewery History Society publication London Brewed.
• CAMRA’s WhatPub website for essential information about the current status of the sites and occasional history.
• The Quaffale website with its invaluable records of UK breweries.

Last updated 22 December 2023.

• London breweries
• Closed London breweries