Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Brewdog to open first Kent bar in city
‘We love bringing our bar experience to new towns and cities...’
International beer brand Brewdog is to open its first Kent bar in Canterbury this year. The chain has confirmed it is launching in the city, with the location understood by the Gazette to be at the new £115 million Riverside complex. The company’s co-founder revealed the plan for Canterbury in a post online, stating how the new bar will launch at some point this year.
The city’s long-awaited Riverside complex, opposite Sainsbury’s, is due to open this summer, with about a dozen tenants primed to set up shop at the site off Kingsmead Road. No operators have been announced and the city council - which is running the project has remained tight-lipped over any speculation of who may be moving in.
But a number of the units are under offer, and it is understood Brewdog will be one of the flagship tenants at the complex when it opens.
A statement on the Brewdog website, confirming the plans for Canterbury, reads: “We’re bringing you one of our iconic bars where incredible craft beer
meets amazing atmosphere. “Our taps will be flowing with the very best beer from us and our favourite guest breweries alongside cocktails, wines & spirits and our popular alcohol-free range.” Co-founder James Watt outlined the vision for Canterbury in a lengthy post detailing his future proposals for the company.
He announced the plans for
Kent, along with new premises in the likes of Durham and Chester, and further afield in Mumbai, Berlin and Brisbane. “In 2022 alone, we are investing over £70 million into increasing capacity, opening new locations, reducing our carbon footprint and creating new jobs,” he said in the post on Linkedin. “We love bringing our bar experience to new towns and cities and are actively seeking
new opportunities across the world for new locations.” Founded in Scotland in 2007, the firm has grown rapidly in the past decade, with bars and hotels opening across the globe. Its beers are sold in a range of pubs and it is an ever-present in supermarkets.
The company, which was rejected by the producers of Dragons Den in 2008, is said to be worth about £1.5 billion.
Mr Watt says Brewdog grew financially during the pandemic despite having its bars closed down.
But it has not all been plainsailing for Brewdog. In January a BBC documentary reported a number of allegations against Mr Watt, in which he was accused of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power in the workplace. The BBC Scotland Disclosure team started investigating the company after almost 300 former and current Brewdog employees signed a letter last year accusing Mr Watt of presiding over a toxic culture of fear.
Mr Watt branded the claims “false rumours and misinformation”, but did “truly apologise” to anyone who had felt uncomfortable around him. Asked about the Canterbury launch, Brewdog said it was not yet in a position to confirm further details.
It means the only tenant confirmed for the Riverside complex so far is Curzon, which will take on a five-screen cinema. A council spokesman said: “Work to secure tenants is progressing well, and we understand the public interest, but at the current time we are not in a position to confirm who any of the operators will be. “However, we look forward to providing more details in due course, once legal agreements are further progressed.”