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Founder
John Gyngell — Biography
John Gyngell is the founder of North Bar in Leeds, widely recognised as one of the UK's first independent craft beer bars, which he opened in 1997 with a loan from his parents, a loan from John Smith's Brewery and money saved from his time working at the Town and Country Club.
Over nearly three decades, North Bar became one of the most influential independent venues in the UK beer scene - an early draught outlet for Erdinger, Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn Lager at a time when craft beer in the UK barely existed as a concept.
John went on to co-found North Brewing Co., scaling it from a standing start to over 20,000 hectolitres in four years, exporting to 27 countries and achieving listings in every major UK supermarket. In 2023 he was named Global Ambassador by Brewers Journal.
He is currently a judge on the World Beer Awards 2026 panel and is launching Hexagon Strategy - a consultancy for bars and breweries built on nearly thirty years of operator experience across strategy, culture and beer programming.
John is based in Leeds and remains one of the most respected and recognisable figures in the UK independent hospitality and craft beer scene.
What does it really take to build a successful independent bar and brewery in the UK?
In this episode I sat down with John Gyngell, the founder of North Bar in Leeds, to talk about almost 30 years in hospitality, beer and the independent brewing industry.
John opened North Bar at just 24 years old, initially with no grand plan to create a craft beer institution. Leeds simply lacked the kind of independent bar culture he had experienced in Manchester. From those beginnings, No…