A brand new beer hall has opened up in North Korea – but the brewery making the country’s favourite beer has an unusual origin story.
As part of a major effort to revitalise the capital of Pyongyang and create more homes, three new suburbs have been built in the last two years, including two 80-storey skyscrapers.
These new districts need infrastructure, and part of that includes a landmark ‘beer restaurant’ located in the recently-constructed Hwasong district.
Gang Bong Suk, manager at the beer hall, said: ‘Here in Rimhung Street, this Hwasong Taedonggang Beer Restaurant was built thanks to our respected General Secretary, who wants our people to enjoy a better life.
‘Our Hwasong Taedonggang Beer Restaurant has two floors and has beer halls, separate rooms, and balconies, so customers can have a good time here in any of these places.’
The new beer hall features Taedonggang Beer branding – unsurprising as that’s the most popular beer in North Korea – but there are global beers on tap too.
The beer is even named after the river which runs through Pyongyang.
But what is surprising is that the Taedonggang Brewery actually started life as Ushers of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, England.
Back in 2000 Ushers of Trowbridge went bust, making all of its staff redundant. As the land went up for sale, so too did every single piece of brewery equipment.
It wasn’t long until a preferred bidder emerged: Kim Jong-il, the former Supreme Leader of North Korea.
The former site of the Ushers of Trowbridge Brewery is now home to a huge Sainsbury’s supermarket, the Independent reports, but following a protracted buying period with a German middle man and difficulties with customs, the disassembled brewery in 30 containers sailed from Bristol to North Korea.
North Korea paid £1.5million for the brewery – equivalent to about £2.7million in today’s money.
The state-owned brewery was then reassembled, with the help of German experts, in 2002, on a former cabbage farm near Pyongyang.
Taedonggang beer comes in seven versions, simply named ‘Taedonggang number one’, ‘Taedonggang number two’ and so on.
Number two is the most popular, and is described as a light lager with a lot of bubbles.
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