British pubs are having a moment. Not in Britain: you can blame Keir Starmer’s rise in business rates for that. Instead, they are branching out overseas. Take Wetherspoons, the granddaddy of British boozers, set to open next month in Alicante airport, or BrewDog, which has opened its doors in Dubai and many other international outposts besides.
Perhaps British pub chains will prove to be our next big export market. No doubt there will be the obvious jokes about arch-Brexiteer Tim Martin opening pubs in Europe. But would you really bet against him? Whatever you think of Wetherspoons, I can assure you that you’ll never find an empty one. Just imagine the kind of trade they could do in Barcelona or Rome.
Which brings me to Dubai. Did you know there was a BrewDog in Dubai? I confess that I didn’t. Though if you’re walking across the touristy retail district on Bluewaters Island, it’s hard to miss it: a massive 11,000 sq ft purpose-built pub, replete with a gigantic teal BrewDog logo and a large outdoor terrace overlooking the charter yachts in the marina below.
When it opened its doors in May last year, it became the first BrewDog in the Middle East. But it’s far from the only international outpost for the Scottish pub chain. There are currently 37 BrewDogs outside Britain, including 11 in the United States, five in Australia, three in India and one each in Thailand and Japan.
I was aware of the Vegas branch, which has become a bit of a cult spot for British tourists wanting to watch early-morning football games – as well as probably the cheapest rooftop bar on the Strip. When I visited in 2024, around two years after the initial opening, I naively thought I’d been to the most far-flung BrewDog in the world. It turns out I wasn’t even close.
All this international expansion is a bit of a contrast with back home, where the pub chain has spent the past few years in something of a corporate tailspin. In 2024, its founder – the beer enthusiast turned LinkedIn influencer James Watt – stepped down from the company, two years after a BBC documentary accused him of fostering a toxic work culture.
They’ve been closing some of their pubs, too. Last summer, the company announced that ten of its branches were for the chop, including three in London. At the time, a spokesperson laid the blame at the feet of the government, citing rising costs and increased regulation. Once again, then, London’s loss has been Dubai’s gain.
It’s good to see BrewDog is actually making a go of this whole ‘Global Britain’ idea, opening pubs all over the place like mini embassies
It isn’t like the overseas expansion doesn’t make sense. Anyone who has travelled beyond the borders of the EU will have experienced the sheer joy of finding one of those imitation Irish pubs that pop up in distant destinations such as central Asia and the Middle East. These emerald-tinged watering holes have been serving thirsty westerners for decades. But it isn’t like they’ve set an impossibly high standard to beat.
That’s certainly the case in Dubai, where the glistening new BrewDog provides a more family-friendly and less dingy alternative to beloved drinking dens like McGettigan’s or Goodfellas. The menu is pretty much identical to what you’d get in one of the British branches – albeit a few pounds more expensive – and there’s even a pub quiz. The only thing I didn’t see from my local branch was all the Polaroids of customers’ dogs (though maybe that will come later).
Appealing to thirsty Brits abroad is one thing. But the success of BrewDog has shown that there is an appetite for our pubs among locals as well. How else do you explain how they’ve been able to open a total of six establishments in Ohio? I’ve enjoyed a road trip through the Buckeye State myself, and I can tell you it’s hardly teeming with British tourists.
It’s a similar story with BrewDog Dubai, which is also looking to pull in an international clientele. When I visited, the crowd seemed to be about two thirds British ex-pats, though that was probably skewed by the fact that there was a Premier League game on at the time. But the pub has been popular with other western ex-pats too, including Aussies and Germans.
The lower prices (at least by Dubai standards) are useful on that front. But so is the unpretentious atmosphere. Not every expat in Dubai is the cocksure, sports-car-obsessed type – there are plenty of nerdy tech sorts who just want to enjoy their IPA in peace without the pounding club music you get elsewhere.
More surprisingly, there were even a handful of Emiratis when I visited, albeit seated in the restaurant area. Given it was still early evening, I didn’t see any dishdasha-clad locals downing pints at the bar – though anyone who spends time in the region will know that it isn’t exactly out of the question.
Either way, I think it’s time we raised a glass to BrewDog. In an era when economic news is painfully thin on the ground, it’s good to see that one of our national chains is actually making a go of this whole ‘Global Britain’ idea, opening pubs all over the place like mini embassies. Perhaps Starmer can find time to pop into one on his next overseas jaunt.
As for my next BrewDog stop, I suspect it will be a while before I make it to the likes of BrewDog Amritsar, BrewDog Tokyo or BrewDog Perth. I might have considered one of the American branches as a good stop on a longer World Cup trip – but the cost of the tickets has probably nipped that in the bud. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just do what budget-conscious drinkers have been doing for years now – and make do with a trip to the Alicante Wetherspoons instead.
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