The Firkin Brewery was a chain of pubs in the United Kingdom. The original UK chain is now defunct, but a number of pubs operate under the Firkin name in other countries. The chain took its name from the firkin, an old English unit of volume.
History
The chain was established in 1979 by David Bruce as Bruce's Brewery, the Firkin Brewery grew as a chain of mostly brewpubs offering cask ale. It was acquired by Midsummer Leisure in 1988, Stakis Leisure in 1990 and then by Allied Domecq in 1991; by 1995 the chain had 44 pubs, 19 of which brewed beer on site.[1] In 1999, Punch Taverns bought the entire chain and the rights to the Firkin brand,[2] and then sold 110 of the pubs to Bass, leaving 60 Firkin pubs under Punch ownership.[3] The brewery side of the chain was wound up, and in March 2001 Punch announced that the Firkin brand was to be discontinued.[4]