Mill Street Brewery, a staple of Toronto’s craft beer industry, is marking a significant shift in its production operations due to skyrocketing industrial lease rates.
Thanks to these rising costs, the brewery’s primary production facility will be moving from its longstanding location at 125 Bermondsey Rd. in North York to a much larger plant in London, Ontario.
Labatt, which purchased Mill Street Brewery in 2015, confirmed the closure of the North York facility to the Star and announced that production will now be handled at its massive London brewery.
The move comes after Mill Street’s 10-year lease expired, with Labatt opting not to renew it. “Industrial lease rates in North York have increased substantially, and we have existing capacity within our Ontario brewing network,” a Labatt spokesperson told the Star.
While this marks the end of Mill Street’s production in North York, the brewery’s three brewpubs will continue their operations, including locations at Pearson Airport, the Distillery District, and in Ottawa. Some batches of beer will also still be brewed at the Distillery District location for local consumption.
However, with the closure of the North York brewery, the company will be reducing its workforce by 39 positions, leading to uncertainty about some of its craft beer labels.
Mill Street was initially founded in the winter of 2002 by Steve Abrams, Jeff Cooper, and Michael Duggan, who named the brewery after its original location at 55 Mill St. By 2006, Mill Street expanded its operations after outgrowing its space and converted the original brewery into a brewpub.
Now, Labatt’s London brewery, the company’s largest in the country with an estimated annual capacity of 200 million litres, will handle all of Mill Street’s production. “All of Mill Street’s products will continue to be produced and available for sale,” a company spokesperson assured.
blogTO has reached out to Labatt for more information regarding the production move.
Mill Street Brewpub is located at 21 Tank House Lane.
