Hilden Brewery

Ann and Seamus Scullion founded Hilden in 1981 in the converted Georgian stables of Hilden House, once home to the Barbour family of linen thread manufacturers, making it Ireland's oldest independent brewery still trading. The original stable brewhouse has been joined over the decades by a second brewhouse plus bottling and canning lines, though the beer, Belfast Blonde and Headless Dog among the regulars, is still brewed on the same courtyard site in Hilden. A café called Threads, named for the site's linen history, serves coffee and lunches in the old Stables building. Public tours have been paused recently, but the brewery's beer and music festival returned to the grounds in August 2025, and Hilden beers remain widely available across Northern Ireland's pubs. Forty-plus years on, it is still independently owned rather than part of a larger drinks group.