Craft Brewery in Hackney: Hackney Church Brew Co Arches

Hackney Church Brew Co pours £3.50 pints of its core beers all night every Thursday from two railway arches at 16 & 17 Bohemia Place, Hackney, London E8 1DU, about 350 metres from Hackney Central Overground. The taproom opens Wednesday and Thursday from 5pm to 11pm, Friday and Saturday from noon to midnight, and Sunday from noon to 10pm, and is shut to walk-ins on Monday and Tuesday. For anyone typing craft brewery near me in east London, this is the brewery bar that faces St John at Hackney churchyard.

CAMRA's listing puts the arches roughly 350 metres from Hackney Central Overground and about 600 metres from Hackney Downs, so either station works for a short walk. Time Out places the bar opposite St John at Hackney churchyard, which is the easiest landmark to steer by: find the church gardens on Mare Street, then look for the pair of brick arches with huge glass windows, outdoor space at the front and a beer garden tucked behind.

CAMRA records step-free access and an accessible toilet at the Hackney arch, which matters in a building that is basically a railway viaduct. The garden at the back is covered and heated in winter, according to the brewery's private hire page, and strung with festoon lights in summer. On match days the brewery runs three screens at once: the Arch 17 big screen indoors, a giant screen in the Barrel Store and an outdoor screen.

The brewery first sold beer on 16 June 2018, according to beer writer Des de Moor. It was co-founded by head brewer Ryan Robbins, originally from Missouri, who installed a 20-hectolitre automated brewhouse from the German maker Braukon, complete with its own grain mill and water purifier. Several people involved were connected to the neighbouring parish church, and the business set out to fund apprenticeships and charitable work on local homelessness.

It opened as St John at Hackney Brewery, named after the church across the lane, then renamed itself Hackney Church Brew Co to avoid confusion with the St John restaurant. Foodism's 2019 review described beer served fresh from tanks above the bar and weekly lunches for homeless people cooked with Sam and Sam Clark of Moro. Robbins moved on in 2022, when hospitality veteran Hamish Glenn became involved, and Jacob is now named as head brewer.

The big change came in 2026. Having outgrown the arches, the company moved main production to a 7,000 square foot brewery and second taproom on Blackhorse Lane in Walthamstow, on the Blackhorse Beer Mile. CAMRA photos of that new tap room are dated 14 April 2026. Des de Moor reported that the Hackney arch would stay open as a bar with some small-batch brewing capacity, and the brewery's own site still calls Bohemia Place the original brewery site.

Jacob's core range is five beers he describes as balanced and simple: Exodus, a 5.5% hazy IPA with tropical fruit, citrus and berry notes; Renaissance, a 4.5% pale ale; St Clements, a 5.0% hefeweizen; Halo, a 5.1% Munich-style helles bittered with Hallertau Mittelfrüh and naturally carbonated by the yeast; and Superfly, a 6.0% West Coast IPA with pine and tropical fruit. Those five are the beers covered by the £3.50 Thursday pint deal.

Specials rotate around the core. The current list includes MOSS, a 4.2% double dry-hopped pale, Pucker Up, a 5% blackberry and lemon sour, and Culinary Crime, a 5% ale brewed as a nod to Hawaiian pizza. For autumn there are two lagers in the German mould, Würst Kase Scenario, a 5.2% Märzen, and Würst Behaviour, a 5.9% Festbier. CAMRA counts ten keg lines at the bar and notes no cask ale.

For drinking at home, the online shop sells single 440ml cans only inside its Build a Box mixed cases: Exodus costs £4.75 a can and Superfly £4.25, while a 12-can case of Exodus is £49.50. Shipping is free on beer orders over £50 to mainland UK addresses. The brewery says it won World Beer Awards Brewery of the Year in 2024, and that the taproom was named best in the UK at the 2023 SIBA business awards.

Food at Hackney comes from Hendl, a rotisserie kitchen run by Peck Peck inside the taproom. The chickens are free-range Devon white birds from Aubrey Allen, brined for four hours and roasted slowly on the spit. A quarter bird is £9, a half £17 and a whole bird £32. The Hendl Plate, at £25, brings half a bird with rotisserie potatoes, a baby gem salad and a choice of dip.

Order the rotisserie potatoes at £6, which the menu says are roasted below the spinning birds. Bar snacks start with chicken butter popcorn at £4 and Spence Bakery sourdough with chicken dripping butter at £5, and the Peckalo wings in buffalo sauce are £10. Vegetarians get a fire-roasted butternut squash with wild garlic butter, crispy smashed potatoes at £8 and cauli cheese at £9. Kitchen hours per CAMRA run 5pm to 10pm midweek, with a 3pm to 6pm break on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday is roast day. The proper roast with rotisserie chicken, pork and sage stuffing, beef dripping roasties, honey carrots, crispy parsnips, tenderstem and a Yorkshire pudding is £24, as is the porchetta, rolled British pork belly with crackling. The butternut squash roast is £22. Pudding is Mrs Sutton's sticky toffee with vanilla ice cream at £7.50. The brewery's own about page calls its Sunday roasts a family affair, and the Sunday kitchen runs from noon to 8pm.

Every Wednesday from 7:30pm the taproom runs a pub quiz with teams of up to six players, £2 entry per person and a £75 bar tab for the winners. On the last Wednesday of the month it turns themed at £3 a head: a Horror Movie Quiz on 28 October 2026, a Lord of the Rings night on 25 November and a Christmas Movie Quiz on 16 December. Book a table early in the week for those.

Here is the honest warning: skip Wednesday after 7pm if you want a quiet pint and a chat, because the room belongs to the quiz teams. Skip Monday and Tuesday entirely, since DesignMyNight lists both days as private hire only. If you came mainly to watch a brew day, the arch is the wrong address now, because the main brewhouse sits in Walthamstow, where the brewery says tours will start.

On Thursdays from 6pm to 7:30pm the Barrel Store hosts Paul Dee's Filipino martial arts sessions, covering empty-hand and stick defence, at £20 per person, cash only. On Monday 14 December 2026 at 7pm the Sing 17 Choir leads Beer and Carols in the taproom. The brewery also marked Oktoberfest on 19 September 2026 with a tapping ceremony at 8pm, and showed every England match of the summer's World Cup.

House rules are short. The brewery is dog friendly, and children are welcome until 9pm. It recommends booking a week ahead but keeps space for walk-ins, and groups of up to 40 book through the Book a Table page. An online enquiry only becomes a booking once the brewery emails back to accept it. If Bohemia Place is full or shut, the Pembury Tavern on Amhurst Road, Five Points Brewing's own pub, opens from 4pm Monday to Thursday.

Across the lane in St John's Church Gardens stands St Augustine's Tower, the oldest building in Hackney, dating from the late 13th century. Its church was demolished in 1798 to make way for the larger St John at Hackney, but the tower was left standing. It is Grade I listed, sits on the borough's coat of arms, and was once used as a mortuary and a gardeners' store.

The tower opens on the last Sunday of each month from 2pm to 4:30pm, except December, with free entry and donations welcome. The next dates are Sunday 25 October and Sunday 29 November 2026. Visitors climb about 135 stone steps on a narrow spiral staircase, past an old clock, to a roof with views over Hackney. Time it right and a 4:30pm descent leads straight into a Sunday roast at the brewery.

Hackney Church Brew Co, 16 & 17 Bohemia Place, Hackney, London E8 1DU. Taproom hours: Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 11pm, Friday and Saturday noon to midnight, Sunday noon to 10pm. Monday and Tuesday private hire only. Nearest stations are Hackney Central Overground, about 350 metres away, and Hackney Downs. Lunch is served Friday to Sunday and dinner Wednesday to Sunday. Thursday core pints are £3.50, and the Wednesday quiz costs £2.

Dogs are welcome and children may stay until 9pm. Book tables through the brewery website, where groups of up to 40 can reserve, and a table is held only once the brewery replies by email to accept the request. The Barrel Store martial arts class on Thursdays is cash only at £20. Weddings and private events take up to 150 guests. The sister brewery and taproom on Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, opens Wednesday to Sunday with Friday and Saturday licences until 1am.