BrewDog acquires Draft House chain

Scottish brewing company, BrewDog has taken full ownership of the entire Draft House estate of 14 bars across London and south east England.

All 213 Draft House staff will now join BrewDog and David McDowall, managing director of BrewDog bars, is now also MD of Draft House, taking the reins from founder Charlie McVeigh.

McDowall said: “At BrewDog we are obsessed with making other people as passionate about craft beer as we are, and in speaking with the Draft House team we recognised that there was a great opportunity to combine our efforts and really have an impact on the UK bar landscape by working together.

“Draft House has got an incredible team of engaged people and we’ll be doing everything we can to empower them in their business and offer them the support they need to achieve their career goals.”

BrewDog said it is planning to invest in the current Draft House sites and may look to expand on them in future.

Draft House launched its first site in 2009 on Northcote Road in Battersea. Since then, it has opened a further 12 bars in London including Camden, Paddington, Tower Bridge and Old Street.

In 2016 it opened a bar in Milton Keynes, its first outside of London.

McVeigh added: “We’ve built an awesome business, and more importantly, a team right at the heart of the UK’s beer revolution. I am immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together and delighted to hand the business over to BrewDog for its next stage of growth. Draft House couldn’t be in better hands.”