Greenwich Hospital which was founded in 1694 and continued in its function as a retirement home for old and injured Royal Naval sailors until 1869. It was during this period, specifically from 1718 to 1866, that brewing took place on what is now Meantime’s Old Brewery site. The bar at The Old Brewery and the cellars below are part of the early 1830’s rebuilding of the Hospital Brewery. The café-restaurant is in part of the Pepys Building, named after the famous 17th Century diarist who worked for the Admiralty, and who re-located to Greenwich to escape the Plague in 1665.

At first the Hospital bought beer for the pensioners from a local brewer, but the quality was frequently unsatisfactory. On at least one occasion, in 1708, the beer wasbeer on site at an annual cost of £763, with an initial outlay of £800 on the building of a brewhouse on the west side of the site…. The situation was reviewed in 1738, when the brewhouse was found to be old, decayed and too small. A new one was approved, to be built ‘with all possible frugality’ at a cost of £600 with a further £430 for utensils, on the basis that by brewing its own beer, the Hospital saved £800 per year. This was substantially erected in 1739-40, and was ready for use by 1742, when a brewer was appointed at a reduced rate of £40 per year……. Two pipes, 1 ½ inches in diameter, were laid from the brewhouse to the north-east corner of Queen