Firkin universe
One chain, three trails, forty pubs.
The full Firkin landscape on PINtPOINT — David Bruce's original 1979–1988 brewpubs, the Firkin Pub Co chain-era expansion, the 1999 collapse, and the modern Firkin Brewery revival pouring today out of Lewisham.
Are any Firkin pubs left? Yes — seven of David Bruce's original 12 brewpubs still trade in London, mostly under different names. Only the Fox & Firkin in Lewisham kept the "& Firkin" name; a separate modern Firkin Brewery operates from there today.
What happened to the Firkin chain? Bass and Punch Taverns ended on-site brewing across every Firkin site on 8 October 1999; the brand was formally retired in March 2001.
What was the Firkin Ale Trail? The 1990 passport challenge — collect a stamp at each of the 12 original Firkin brewpubs by post and earn a free Firkin T-shirt. PINtPOINT has digitised it as the Ale Trail I Hall-of-Fame crawl.
1The twenty-year arc
Bruce founded the Goose & Firkin in Elephant & Castle in 1979 — the first new brewpub in London for fifty years. He sold the estate in 1988, the chain expanded through the 1990s, and on 8 October 1999 Bass and Punch Taverns axed the brewing across all sites overnight. The brewing-in-the-pub idea that defined Firkin disappeared. Eighteen years later, at the Fox & Firkin in Lewisham, brewing on premises came back.
2The story
Following the Firkin trail(s)…
Why the brewing died on a Friday in 1999, what the original 12 brewpubs actually were, the leaflet that made it a game, and where the idea lives on today. Borough Road, Tavistock Crescent, Ladbroke Grove, Lewisham — a circular history from Bruce's pioneering brewpub through the chain-era expansion to the present-day revival.
Read the article →3The three Ale Trails
Each trail is a Hall-of-Fame crawl in PINtPOINT and a companion page on the web. Walk one in the app; share the page on the bar wall.
The Dog-Head
The Revival
Ex-Firkin London
4Ale Trail III · the five chapters
Twenty-two pubs is impossible in one walk — High Barnet to Sydenham is ten miles each way. Five chapters break it into walkable afternoons.
5Source material
- David Bruce, The Firkin Saga: Brewing up entrepreneurial adventures and pioneering tales with the Prince of Ales
- Phil Mellows, Pellicle: What a Firkin Life — David Bruce OBE's Life in Beer (August 2025)
- Good Beer Good Pubs: What Happened to the Firkin Pubs?
- John Donnelly, Real Ale London: Firkin Pubs — Where Are They Now?
- Roger Protz, Protz on Beer (business-rates beat and chain-era trade reporting)
Walk one in the app
Open PINtPOINT and head to:
Settings → 🏆 Hall of Fame → pick The Firkin Ale Trail, II, or Ex-Firkin London → tap "Start this crawl". For Ale Trail III the umbrella opens a chooser so you can pick a single chapter or see all 22 stops at once.