One of London’s best-known craft breweries has signed up to move into the 1,500-home Morden Wharf development next to the Blackwall Tunnel.
Brew By Numbers will open a taproom and brewery in a refurbished warehouse on the site of an old pub, The Sea Witch, which was destroyed in the Second World War.
A planning application was submitted by U+I last summer for the £770 million development on the old Tunnel Refineries site, which includes towers of 21, 25, 30 and 36 storeys as well as space for businesses. While councillors have yet to make a decision on the application, Brew By Numbers plans to move into the riverside warehouse this summer – a blog post on its website promises “a festival announcement in the coming weeks”.
Brew By Numbers will join Meantime Brewing, further down Tunnel Avenue, as the second brewery on the Greenwich Peninsula. The company was founded in a basement near London Bridge and currently brews in Bermondsey and has taprooms there and in Peckham.
U+I’s chief executive, Richard Upton, said: “Brew By Numbers is a perfect tenant for Morden Wharf, enabling us to pay homage to heritage of The Sea Witch pub whilst kickstarting the regeneration of an industrial site that is positively bristling with opportunity. When the taproom opens its doors to the people of Greenwich next year, we hope that it will fast become a favourite among the local community.”
“Brew By Numbers is one of the first of many businesses that will make Morden Wharf their home over the coming years, creating hundreds of jobs that support the local economy and transform this brownfield site into a thriving new neighbourhood.”
There are also plans for Brew By Numbers to collaborate with MDM Props, which makes art installations and props for film and theatre and also occupies space in the warehouse.
Brew By Numbers’ co-founder Tom Hutchings said: “We are all super excited to use the additional space to expand our range and continue on our commitment to exploratory brewing with investment in new state of the art equipment. The views of the Thames and across south east London are incredible; giving us the perfect backdrop to summer drinking, foodie events and small beer festivals.”
Plans for Morden Wharf, which formerly housed the Tunnel Refineries glucose plant, also include a public square for events and markets, a riverside park and uncovering the sandy beach next to the warehouse. The scheme could also provide a home for the Queen’s rowbarge Gloriana.
It is one of two major U+I developments in Greenwich borough, with the company also working on Faraday Works, the old Siemens factory on the Charlton/Woolwich border.
The company also created the Deptford Market Yard development next to Deptford station – a railway carriage used as a cafe before work started there is currently in storage at Morden Wharf.
Close by, the historic Enderby House will open its doors as a Young’s pub from Monday, when bars will be allowed to serve drinks outdoors for the first time since the winter lockdown began in January.
Help 853 continue reporting on public interest issues in Greenwich and southeast London – we are the only outlet regularly producing original journalism in the borough, and we can only do it with your funding.
Please join over 100 donors who use Steady, PressPatron or Patreon to give a little towards our costs every month. The money pays the bills, a wage for the editor and pays others to write for the site.
You can also buy the editor a coffee at ko-fi.com. Thank you.