Guinness hopes to attract half a million visitors a year to new Covent Garden brewery
Brewing is set to return to Covent Garden after more than a century with the opening of a huge beer making, restaurant, shopping, and cultural hub before the end of the year.
Diageo, the drinks giant that owns Guinness, is spending £73 million on the project at Old Brewer's Yard near Neal Street in the heart of the West End.
It was first announced in January 2022 with a planned launch in Autumn 2023.
But the scheme was hit by delays including the collapse of the lead contractor and Diageo now hope for an opening date in the run up to Christmas.
The Open Gate Brewery will be the fourth site of its kind in the world - after Dublin, Baltimore and Chicago - and become the Guinness brand's new home in London.
It is hoped the free-to-enter destination over five buildings and a covered courtyard will attract half a million visitors in its first year.
The new 54,000 sq ft venue between Long Acre and Shaftesbury Avenue will create up to 250 jobs and provide an space with a capacity for up to 350 people.
The microbrewery will produce a range of up to 14 limited edition craft beers at any time, including a low alcohol option, under the direction of head brewer Hollie Stephenson.
However, Guinness will not be brewed on site, although it will be possible to buy a pint of the 'black stuff' at its bars.
All Guinness for the European market is brewed in Dublin.
It is estimated that at least one in every ten pints pulled in London is now a Guinness and before Christmas, pubs were hit by a shortage of the stout as the company struggled to keep up with an unprecedented spike in demand .
The brewery building will be open from 9.30am to 11.30pm during the week with paid for tours available in the early evening.
As well as the brewery there will be two restaurants, including a brasserie and grill on the ground and first floor and a seafood outlet on the roof-top. There will also be a food truck in the courtyard.
A shop will sell limited edition Guinness branded merchandise.
The venue will also become the southern UK hub of Diageo's Learning for Life Bartending and Hospitality programme, with an ambition for over 100 London based students to graduate from the 'Guinness at Old Brewer's Yard' programme annually.
Open Gate Brewery will occupy the five buildings around a covered courtyard on a site owned by the Mercers livery company.
Brewing is recorded taking place there from 1722 until 1905 when Watney Combe Reid closed their Covent Garden premises to focus on production at its Mortlake Brewery.
Beers originally produced at the brewery included the aged brown beers that was popular with the porters of Covent Garden, Smithfield and Billingsgate and became knowns as 'Stout Porter', before the name was shortened to just 'stout'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Wall Street loves this recent IPO with one analyst calling it the ‘social network trading platform'
Wall Street is extremely bullish on stock trading platform eToro , with analysts estimating the stock could rise between 11% and 24% from here. Israel-based eToro went public on May 15 , with its initial public offering price at $52 per share, above the high end of its proposed range. The stock opened that day at $69.69, or 34% above its IPO, and closed up nearly 29% at $67 per share. Shares surged more than 5% on Monday to hit a fresh 52-week high. The overwhelming positive sentiment from Wall Street has rewarded the company's decision to go public after a lengthy dry spell for IPOs. "We felt that we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the correction in the markets," CEO Yoni Assia said in an interview with CNBC. Here's what analysts at some of the biggest shops on Wall Street had to say on the IPO. Goldman Sachs initiates coverage at buy rating and 12-month price target of $76 per share Analyst James Yaro's target implies nearly 11% upside from eToro's Friday closing price of $68.70 per share. "We see ETOR as an attractive market share gain story in the fragmented European retail brokerage market, driven by a differentiated offering vs. peers, in terms of: 1) its geographic and product breadth (a pan-European client base that can trade global unlevered and levered equities, currencies, commodities, and crypto); 2) a tech-enabled offering; and 3) CopyTrader, which is both a loss mitigation tool, and a tool to facilitate social trading, which many younger investors want — these combined factors have driven ~5.5pp of share gains since 2019." Canaccord Genuity initiates coverage at buy rating, $78 per share price target Canaccord Genuity's target calls for almost 14% upside going forward. "We view eToro as a clear share gainer in retail trading/investing. We also believe the short to medium term here is ripe with catalysts, including a big push into the US market, and the potential for crypto to move more towards becoming a mainstream asset class." Needham initiates coverage of eToro as a buy, sets price target of $80 per share The investment firm called eToro "the social network trading platform," while its price target is 16% above the stock's Friday closing price. "We believe eToro's strength is in its 'social trading aspect' which is driving higher monetization per funded account. We see an opportunity to grow funded accounts by converting registered users, and through new expansion opportunities in Asia and U.S." Jefferies sets buy rating, $80 per share price target "eToro is well-positioned to benefit from the growing adoption of retail investing globally. With leading retail market share in markets like the EU and UK, combined with a differentiated product offering and distinguished brand, we believe eToro is uniquely positioned to continue to grow its account base organically at +10% y/y." Mizuho initiates coverage at outperform rating and $80 per share price target "With 3.5mn funded accounts across a global footprint of 75 countries, ETOR focuses on disrupting legacy institutions both globally and in the U.S. by providing both investing tools and learning resources. Key medium-term catalysts include: growing retail participation in Europe (~70% of ETOR revenue); Gen Z is beginning to trade earlier in life than prior generations and has an affinity for viral social trading apps like ETOR; a pending, estimated $80tn generational wealth transfer; and opportunity to grow in the U.S. and Asia, where retail trading is popular. ETOR enjoys several key competitive advantages. It has a set of viral features like social trading (use of influences), copy trading (mimics successful investor portfolios), and AI-driven smart portfolios offering retail investors thematic/strategy-based trading." TD Cowen initiates coverage at buy rating, $80 price target "We see ETOR as an attractive play on the global rise of retail and crypto adoption, strong [revenue per user], ad spend [return on investment] + client [margin on client assets] metrics. While low float may make ETOR bumpy, we see favorable catalysts ahead." Cantor Fitzgerald initiates coverage at overweight and price target of $84 per share Analyst Brett Knoblauch's target equates to 22% upside. "We have ETOR trading at 26.5x 2025 P/E, which we believe is a reasonable entry point for a business that we believe can compound earnings at a 15% [compound annual growth rate] over the next two years, with the potential for upside coming from our relatively conservative revenue growth expectations (8.8% CAGR). Combining ETOR's valuation, numerous growth vectors (new markets, greater market share, generational wealth transfer, and new products), we believe risk/reward at current levels to be favorable." Citizens sets market outperform rating and $85 per share price target "The company is scaling its core offerings and exploring new financial services through organic growth and potential M & A. With a compelling valuation and untapped market opportunities, we believe eToro is well-positioned to capture share of the expanding retail investing market." — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
World's beef eaters facing major price hikes ahead of barbecue season
Carnivores will likely need deeper pockets this year as global beef supplies tighten and prices head up again, in turn meaning more expensive barbecues, burgers, bolognese and steak dinners. "Global beef production is expected to contract through the remainder of the year, with an overall contraction of 2% projected for the year," according to Angus Gidley-Baird of RaboResearch, part of Dutch lender Rabobank. Some of the world's major cattle and beef producer countries expected to be affected, Gidley-Baird said, with "largest contractions" expected in Brazil and New Zealand, while Europe, the US and China are also likely to see reductions. Even if other suppliers such as Australia and Argentina remain unaffected, the contracting supplies elsewhere are likely to see the "further supporting" of already "elevated" cattle prices. Not only are global cattle markets "trending higher" this year, prices in Europe have seen an "especially strong rise in Q1 [the first quarter of the year] as domestic supplies contracted while demand remained strong." Pests and diseases are affecting cattle supplies in Europe and North America, according to the researchers, who said that although beef has not been mentioned as a commodity to be targeted for tariffs beyond the impact of general or "baseline" measures, the prospect of further trade tensions has seen some reconfiguring of markets. "Reports are emerging that Chinese buyers are looking more toward Australian, New Zealand and South American suppliers as US beef becomes unavailable or more expensive," Rabobank's researchers said. The report follows warnings in some countries that the price of "conventional" beef has reached that of usually more expensive organic beef. This time of year usually sees seasonal high demand and high prices for beef as the 'barbecue season' associated with European and North American summers approaches. Global food prices already saw significant increases during Covid lockdowns and in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, a war pitting two major food commodity producers against each other. Prices for the most part have not returned to their pre-2020 level, with recent reports warning of further rises for staples such as coffee, cocoa, olive oil and sugar.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia CEO says UK needs computing power to develop AI
By Sam Tabahriti LONDON (Reuters) -Britain lacks the computing infrastructure to deliver the full potential of its leading artificial intelligence research base, Nvidia's CEO said on Monday, as the UK partners with the U.S. chipmaker for a new AI testing environment. Jensen Huang's comments came as the Financial Conduct Authority announced a new framework to allow financial firms to experiment with AI tools in a controlled environment from October, part of a government strategy to support innovation and economic growth. "The UK is the largest AI ecosystem in the world without its own infrastructure," Huang told an audience at London Tech Week alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer, citing the country's top universities, startups and third-largest AI venture capital market. He praised Starmer's plan to boost Britain's domestic computing capabilities by 20 times and provide 1 billion pounds ($1.36 billion) of investment. "The ability to build these AI supercomputers here in the UK will naturally attract more startups, it will naturally enable all of the rich ecosystem of researchers here," he added, saying Britain was "an incredible place to invest". The FCA has partnered with Nvidia to provide access to advanced computing power and bespoke AI. The programme is intended to help firms in the early stages of exploring AI, offering access to technical expertise, better datasets and regulatory support, the FCA said. It is open to all financial services companies experimenting with AI. Finance minister Rachel Reeves has urged Britain's regulators to remove barriers to economic growth, describing it as an "absolute top priority" for the government. In April, she said she was pleased with how the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority, part of the Bank of England, were responding to her call to cut red tape. Starmer also said in a speech opening London Tech Week that Israeli fintech firm Liquidity Group would open its European headquarters in London, representing an investment of 1.5 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.7369 pounds) Sign in to access your portfolio
