We get asked about the Meantime Brewery tour in Greenwich reasonably often, usually from guests weighing it up against our own guided crawl on the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Meantime is one of London's longest-running breweries in its current form, founded in 2000 with a distinctly European bent — think pilsners, helles and a historically inspired IPA rather than the hazy, hop-forward styles that dominate newer taprooms. Here's an honest, fair look at what a visit involves, what it's likely to cost, and how it stacks up against a multi-stop craft crawl like ours. As with any brewery we don't run ourselves, treat the specifics here as a starting point and check the official Meantime site for current tour availability, prices and times before you book — we're writing this as regular visitors to Greenwich, not as the operator.
What is Meantime, and where is it in Greenwich?
Meantime was founded in Greenwich in 2000 by brewer Alastair Hook, who trained in Germany and set out to bring proper European brewing technique — lagering, decoction mashing, continental hop varieties — to a UK beer scene that was, at the time, still dominated by cask ale on one side and mass-market lager on the other. Its main production brewery sits on Blackwall Lane in Greenwich, southeast London, a short walk from the river and the Cutty Sark. Meantime also runs The Old Brewery, a separate bar and restaurant inside the Pepys Building at the Old Royal Naval College, where a small-scale brewing setup is visible through glass while you eat — a nice bit of theatre even if it isn't the main production site.
Meantime made its name with beers like London Pale Ale (based on a historic 1830s export recipe), Meantime Pilsner and Meantime London Lager, and it was one of the first UK breweries to put "craft"-minded European styles on supermarket shelves at scale, well before that became common. It's since become part of a much bigger group: SABMiller bought Meantime in 2015, and the brand passed to Japan's Asahi Group the following year as part of a wider acquisition of SABMiller's European premium beer businesses. Worth knowing going in — this isn't a small independent in the way our own tour partners are.
What does a tour actually include?
Brewery tour programmes at sites like this tend to come and go, or shift between public walk-up sessions and pre-booked group visits, so we won't pretend to know exactly what's running on any given week. When Meantime has run public tours, they've typically covered the brewhouse and production process with a guide, finishing with a tasting of the core range. Check the official Meantime Brewery site directly for what's currently available before you make plans around it — that's true of any single-brewery visit, not just this one.
What we can say with more confidence: Blackwall Lane is a proper working production brewery rather than a show kitchen, and if a tour is running, it's a decent way to see European-style lagering and continental hop handling up close, which most London taprooms don't focus on.
How much does it cost?
We're not going to quote a specific figure here, because prices and formats for single-brewery tours change fairly often and we don't want to send you in with the wrong number. As a rough benchmark, single-brewery tours across London typically run somewhere in the £15-£30 per person range, but always check the official Meantime site for current pricing rather than budgeting off anything you read here. For comparison, our own guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour is a fixed £49 per person, runs 2-3.5 hours and includes a tutored tasting at every one of four independent taprooms — a different kind of day out, and worth weighing against a single heritage visit.
How long does it last, and do you need to book?
Single-brewery visits like this generally run somewhere between one and three hours including a tasting, though exact timings depend on the format on the day. If a tour is running, we'd assume slots are limited, particularly at weekends, so book ahead through the official channel rather than turning up hoping for a space — the same advice applies to any guided group tour, ours included.
Is it good for beginners?
Yes, if you're curious about European brewing tradition rather than the newer, hazier end of craft beer. Meantime's whole identity is built around continental technique and history, so it's a gentle, story-led way into brewing for anyone whose reference point is mainstream lager rather than modern IPA.
Meantime vs the Bermondsey Beer Mile: the honest comparison
Here's how the two actually differ, rather than a sales pitch:
- Independent vs group-owned. Every stop on our Bermondsey Beer Mile crawl is a genuinely independent craft brewery. Meantime, despite its Greenwich roots, has been owned by Asahi Group since 2016 — a very different scale of operation.
- European heritage vs modern craft. Meantime specialises in pilsners, helles and historically inspired styles. Our four taprooms lean into the modern craft range — hazy IPAs, sours, session beers and small-batch specials that change week to week.
- Depth vs breadth. A single-brewery visit goes deep on one site's process. A Beer Mile crawl goes broad — four independent breweries and a full spread of styles in one afternoon, with beer included at every stop.
- Location. Greenwich sits southeast of the river with its own DLR and riverboat links, a good half-day trip in its own right. Bermondsey is walkable from London Bridge station and sits inside one of the country's densest strips of independent breweries — see our Ultimate Beer Mile Guide for the full route.
- Group size. We run private groups from 6 up to 60+, which makes a guided Mile crawl a much easier fit for stags, hens, birthdays and work socials than most single-site tours — see our private & group tours.
Plenty of our own guests have visited both Greenwich and Bermondsey on separate trips and rate them for different reasons rather than ranking one above the other. See our wider roundup of the best brewery tours in London for how Meantime compares against other heritage names too, including our Fuller's brewery tour guide and our Camden Town Brewery tour guide.
What actually happens on our guided crawl, for comparison
If you haven't done a multi-brewery tour before, ours works like this: we meet at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid Street, at your chosen start time, then spend 2-3.5 hours walking the Bermondsey railway arches with a local guide, stopping at four independent taprooms with a beer included at every one. It's less about one brewery's history and more about tasting widely and hearing the stories behind each arch from people who actually work there. We've been running it since 2014, with 5+ TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence.
Make a day of it: Greenwich beyond the brewery
Greenwich rewards a proper half-day even without the brewery visit. The Old Royal Naval College and its painted hall, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory up on the hill, and the Cutty Sark are all within a short walk of Blackwall Lane, and Greenwich Market is a solid lunch stop before or after. It's an easy DLR or riverboat ride from central London, which makes it a natural pairing with a longer day out — some of our guests do Greenwich in the morning and head over to Bermondsey in the afternoon, since the two areas sit on roughly the same side of the river. Our free self-guided Bermondsey heritage walk is a good add-on if you're stringing a few areas together in one trip.
Good to know before you go (either brewery)
- Confirm the tour is running. Single-brewery tour schedules change; check the official site before you travel out to Greenwich specifically for one.
- Bring ID. Brewery tours and tastings are an over-18s activity and you may be asked to prove your age.
- Eat first. Tastings add up quickly, whichever tour you pick.
- Book ahead. Popular dates sell out fast, ours included.
- Check what's included. Always confirm whether tastings are bundled into the ticket price before you turn up.
Gift a brewery tour
Whichever style of tour someone prefers, a brewery visit makes a memorable present. Our gift vouchers are bought directly on our gift vouchers page, delivered instantly by email and never expire, so the recipient can pick whichever date and tour of ours suits them, including our Saturday Cheese, Meat & Beer Tour.