Closed brewery
52 Tooley Street SE1 2QN (Southwark)
First sold beer: 1984
Ceased brewing: 1985
An early example of a Southwark railway arch brewery, Tooley Street was established to supply beer to the Dickens Inn pub, across the river Thames at St Katherine’s Dock.
The pub, which still operates today (Marble Quay, St Katharine’s Way E1W 1UH) is in a timber-framed warehouse built around 1780 that likely belonged to one of London’s most historic defunct breweries, the Red Lion: see Charrington. In 1975 it was moved 70 m from its original site and officially opened as a pub the following year by Cedric Dickens, Charles Dickens’s great-grandson, despite having no direct connection with the author.
The pub was operated by Mike Harwood, who in 1982 opened a second Dickens Inn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, a city where Dickens also spent time (now the Cavanaugh Headhouse, 421 South 2nd Street 19147).
Mike’s company already occupied the upper floor of a railway arch under London Bridge station in Tooley Street, and in 1984 a full mash plant was added on the ground floor, supplied by Hickey Engineering in Bromley. The main intention was to supply the pub, though some beer was sold through the free trade and may even have been exported in bottled form for sale in Philadelphia.
Most output was cask bitter: Dickens Bitter (also known as Tooley Street Bitter, around 3.7%), Archway (around 4.3%) and Dickens Special (around 4.6%). The latter was also bottled, and the brewery made special beers for weddings and other celebrations at the pub.
The project proved short-lived, however, lasting little more than a year. The arch was later used as a cycle shop, before being completely rebuilt in 2016-18 as part of the station redevelopment. The station entrance immediately east of the Stainer Street arch now occupies the site. Mike Harwood died in 2002.
Updated 10 June 2024.
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