Heineken buys London’s Brixton Brewery

For the Big Brewers a London craft brewery has become a must-have. After AB-InBev bought Camden Town, Asahi took on the Meantime Brewery, and Carlsberg acquired the London Fields Brewery, it was finally Heineken’s turn.

The number one brewer in the UK, on 28 November 2017, bought a minority stake in the Brixton Brewery to help it expand capacity and move to a new site. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2013 by two couples, Brixton Brewery presently sits under a railway arch in south London. As space is tight, the owners started looking for a new and larger site. However, industrial real estate in central London is the rarest of commodities and the owners were lucky to find a lot just 600 metres from their current brewery.

Once the new brewery is built, Brixton’s capacity will go up to 15,000 hl from 3,000 hl.

It is expected the expanded site will double the headcount from currently 15 people and allow the brewery to add cans to its portfolio for the first time. There will also be a tap room which will be used as a community space for events.

The percentage of the business which will be owned by Heineken and the value of the deal have not been disclosed.