Time to roll out old tars' barrels again

A brewery is to be built at the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich - on the site of a Georgian brewhouse that once supplied retired sailors with their daily ration of five pints.

Historians have uncovered the plant's original 200ft well and vaulted cellars, which will be used to produce a modern version of 18th-century porter.

The new facility will be the centrepiece of a brasserie and bar due to open at the World Heritage Site in autumn next year. It will feature an exhibition celebrating London as the birthplace of commercial brewing.

The project is a joint venture by Charlton-based Meantime Brewery, founded in 2000, and the Greenwich Foundation, which runs the Old Royal Naval College site.

Meantime is one of several microbreweries to have opened in London in the past decade. With a turnover of £3 million a year, it has increased its staff by 50 per cent in two years.

Company brewmaster Alastair Hook said: "The effects of the smoking ban and the rising price of grain, hops and energy are really hurting the industry but it's different if you are small and flexible, so we are in rude health." The Old Royal Naval College was built by Sir Christopher Wren in the early 18th century as the Royal Hospital for Seamen. It stands on the site of a Tudor palace, the birthplace of Elizabeth I.

The first brewery was built in 1717 and soon produced 25,000 barrels a year to supply the old tars' allotted pints.

The current building dates from 1831 but much of it burned down in 1843. Until last year it was an electricity substation.

The new microbrewery will produce fewer than 5,000 barrels a year. Naval College Porter will be matured for at least a year in traditional wooden barrels for a full-bodied and crisp, acidic flavour. It will be sold in cork-and-wire stoppered bottles.

Mr Hook said: "It's very frustrating that our heritage is never celebrated in the way French wine and German beer are. In the 14th century there were 1,500 breweries within the walls of the City. In the mid-18th century London was the first place in the world where beer was made in large quantities.

"Many types of beer were invented here and exported all over the world. We think London should be proud of its brewing history."