A Meantime-branded microbrewery could open on the Greenwich Peninsula, a year after the company moved its operations to west London.

A company called Brewpub Greenwich Ltd has applied for planning permission to transform an empty pavilion next to the Now Gallery on Peninsula Square into a new bar, The Dial, carrying Meantime branding. The ground floor would contain a microbrewery and bar, while the first floor would be The Dial Sports Bar. The top floor would be an events space and overflow bar.

An extension to the pavilion – formerly occupied by the Greenwich Kitchen and Craft London restaurants – would showcase the brewing process, documents submitted to Greenwich Council say.

Meantime was founded in Charlton by Alistair Hook in 1999. The company, which is often said to have pioneered the craft beer movement in the UK, moved to Blackwall Lane in Greenwich in 2010.

Brewing tanks on floor of warehouse
Brewing equipment has been moved out of the Blackwall Lane site. Image: Matt Clark

The company traded heavily on its links to Greenwich, including its taproom, The Greenwich Union, on Royal Hill, and The Old Brewery in the Old Royal Naval College. It also had a bar at Blackwall Lane.

But Hook sold sold the company in 2015 to SABMiller, then the company behind Grolsch, and it was sold on to Asahi a year later. 

The Old Brewery was sold to Young’s in 2015 and Asahi closed The Greenwich Union during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. In March last year the Japanese beer giant announced that Meantime would move to the Fuller’s brewery in Chiswick. Locals have reported seeing equipment moved out of the Blackwall Lane site in recent weeks, with the entrance to the former brewery bar covered in weeds. 

Building covered in weeds
Meantime’s brewery shop has been left neglected since it moved to Chiswick. Image: Matt Clark

But Asahi did promise a return to Greenwich, saying that plans were under way “for the creation of a new standalone consumer retail experience, including a continuation of brewing, where the brand was established as a pioneer of modern craft beer”. 

Companies House records show that Brewpub Greenwich is owned by an investment company called Imbiba Ventures, rather than Asahi.

The Dial would represent a return to Peninsula Square for the Meantime name. In 2014, the company took a three-year lease for a pop-up bar called Beer Box, on the site now occupied by The Tide high-level walkway.

Full plans can be seen on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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