For the first time in generations, there's a working Guinness brewery in London — the Open Gate Brewery at Old Brewer's Yard in Covent Garden. As people who've spent over a decade guiding beer lovers around this city, we get asked about it constantly: what's actually there, is it worth it, and how does it compare to a proper craft brewery tour? Here's our honest local guide.
What is the Guinness Open Gate Brewery London?
Open Gate is Guinness's London home — a big, polished venue built around a working microbrewery on a historic brewing site at Old Brewer's Yard, a corner of Covent Garden where beer was brewed as far back as the 1700s. The name comes from Dublin's experimental Open Gate Brewery, and the idea is the same: alongside perfectly poured pints of the famous stout, the on-site brewers make small-batch and limited-edition beers you can only drink there. Around the brewing kit you'll find bars, dining and a shop full of merchandise and glassware.
It's a genuinely impressive space, and the pour is — as you'd hope — immaculate. If you're a Guinness devotee, it's an easy pilgrimage; if you're visiting London and can't make it to Dublin, it's the next best thing.
Where is it, and how do you get there?
Old Brewer's Yard sits in the heart of Covent Garden, tucked between Neal Street and Shelton Street — a few minutes on foot from Covent Garden station (Piccadilly line) and Leicester Square (Northern & Piccadilly). It's about as central as a brewery could possibly be, which is part of the appeal: you can fold a visit into any West End day without planning.
What to expect on a visit
- The beer: the classic stout poured properly, plus rotating limited editions brewed on site — often styles you'd never associate with Guinness. Trying the experimental brews is, for us, the whole point of going.
- The brewery: gleaming kit on show as you drink. Guided experiences and tastings run regularly — check the official Guinness website for current options and prices, as they change.
- Food: from casual plates to a proper sit-down restaurant. You won't go hungry.
- Booking: walk-ins are possible when there's space, but it's popular — book ahead for weekends, and always for tours and tastings.
- Budget: this is central London and a premium brand; expect West End prices rather than taproom prices.
Open Gate vs the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
They're different animals. The Storehouse is one of Europe's biggest visitor attractions — seven storeys of brand story ending at the Gravity Bar. London's Open Gate is smaller and more brewery-led: less museum, more drinking what the brewers made this month. If your dream is the full Guinness theme-park experience, Dublin still owns it; if you want a very good pint in a very handsome room with some brewing theatre, Covent Garden delivers.
Our honest take: one big brand, or the whole scene?
Here's the thing we tell every group who asks. Open Gate is brilliant at what it is — but it's one (giant, Diageo-owned) brand in one venue. London's real beer story right now is its independent craft scene: over a hundred small breweries, the densest cluster of them packed into the railway arches of the Bermondsey Beer Mile, twenty minutes across town.
On our guided Beer Mile tour (£49pp, 2–3.5 hours, a tasting at every stop) you visit four different independent breweries in an afternoon — meeting the people who brew the beer, tasting styles from crisp table beer to barrel-aged stouts that would make a Dublin brewer blush, and hearing how railway arches became the engine room of British craft. It's the difference between visiting an embassy and travelling the country.
Honestly? Do both. Pint at Open Gate one day; the Beer Mile route the next. Your camera roll will thank you for the first one, your beer education for the second.
Make a proper beer day of it
If Guinness has put you in the mood for brewing history, our free self-guided heritage walk traces 500 years of London beer through Southwark — porter, the world's first great industrial breweries, the lot — before the taprooms open. Round the day off with our Saturday cheese, meat & beer tour, or see the best brewery tours in London for every option compared. Planning for a group? Our private tours handle 6 to 60+ people, and gift vouchers sort the stout lover in your life in about ninety seconds.
Want the full Guinness experience?
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- Guinness Storehouse, Dublin — entry with a free pint — if Open Gate whets your appetite for the whole story, the original Storehouse ends with a pint in the Gravity Bar overlooking Dublin.