The Guinness Open Gate Brewery is Diageo’s £73 million brewery and visitor site on Old Brewer’s Yard in Covent Garden. It opened to the public on 11 December 2025, and the King opened it officially a week later. It’s the fourth Open Gate in the world, after Dublin, Baltimore and Chicago.
The Guinness you’ll be poured here isn’t brewed here. Diageo’s launch release says the Guinness and Guinness 0.0 are still brewed in Dublin. The microbrewery, run by Master Brewer Hollie Stephenson, makes limited-edition beers and seasonal specials instead, including non-stout beers and low-alcohol options, Diageo says. The royal household’s account of the opening says the King was offered the site’s Old Brewer’s Yard Porter, a Winter Warmer and an Apricot Sour.
Why Covent Garden
The royal household’s account says the site was once Combe & Co., an 18th-century brewery in what was then a busy brewing district, and that Guinness Extra Stout was bottled on this spot in 1901. Diageo says beer was first brewed here over 300 years ago, and that one in seven pints poured in London is now a Guinness. DesignMyNight puts it at one in ten.
What’s there
It isn’t one building. Grace Dent, reviewing it for the Guardian, found it spread over several streets.
- The tour. The Open Gate Experience is the only way to see inside the brewery. It takes in the brewhouse, a tasting in the Brewer’s Room and a lesson in pouring your own pint. DesignMyNight’s tour lasted around 90 minutes, and its tasting flight was a lager, an IPA, a pale ale and a porter. There’s a 0% option on draught.
- Other experiences. The tours page lists a Tour to Table experience with a three-course meal, a Guinness Masterclass and a draught and cocktail workshop.
- The 232 Bar. Named, the royal account says, after the temperature that gives Guinness its roast. It’s where you can have an image printed on the head of your pint.
- The courtyard. A bar and eatery open to the public, with a pie stall by Calum Franklin.
- Two restaurants. The Porter’s Table and Gilroy’s Loft, both led by chef Pip Lacey. Gilroy’s Loft is on the fifth floor.
What people make of it
Much of the criticism is of the food. Grace Dent gave the Porter’s Table a kicking in the Guardian, calling one dessert “Absolute ‘will-this-do?’ nonsense” and complaining there was “no concerted effort to sell you a pint.” She also noted the loos are on the fifth floor, reachable only by lift. Hot Dinners, who ate as guests, liked Gilroy’s Loft much more, and said that if you want a pint with oysters at the brewery, it’s the place for it. They called the Old Brewer’s Yard bar “by far the most successful aspect”. DesignMyNight gave the tour five stars.
On r/LondonFood, the person who started a thread about it said they paid in full. Their summary was that “the pies are worth it, the drinking is fine if you have the right expectations, and the seafood restaurant was bad.” They noted the restaurant prices include a 12.5% service charge, and called the courtyard “a safe, contained place where nothing will go wrong.” Another commenter left rather than drink in “a cold unheated yard area”, and a third said “there are much better places in Soho to get a good Guinness.”
Top-ranked Guinness pubs nearby
Someone in the same thread asked if the Toucan was still going. It is, and it’s #1 on the best Guinness in London, which ranks pubs on how many Google reviews mention Guinness, how many published guides name them for it, Reddit recommendations and Guinness’s own Harp Guide. Three of the top four are a short walk from Old Brewer’s Yard.
| Pub | Where | Our Guinness rank | Distance, as the crow flies |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Toucan | Carlisle Street, Soho | #1 | about 0.55 km |
| Coach & Horses | Wellington Street, Covent Garden | #2 | about 0.35 km |
| The Devonshire | Denman Street, Soho | #4 | about 0.75 km |
Guinness comes up in more Google reviews at the Toucan than at any other London pub we checked, and three London guides name the Coach & Horses for it. Grace Dent wondered how the Devonshire, “a short walk away in Piccadilly”, could “be doing more for the image of Guinness” than the people behind Open Gate. Hot Dinners called Open Gate’s “a very strong pint”, though not yet at “Devonshire levels”. All three are on Guinness’s own Harp Guide.
Getting in
The main entrance is on Shelton Street, according to Hot Dinners, or you can walk in through the gift shop on Neal Street. Tours and restaurant tables are booked through the Open Gate site.