20^th Century Pub by Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey, published in 2017 by The Homewood Press

“Bruce was an enthusiastic young entrepreneur … (and) he and his wife, Louise, had firm ideas about how a good pub should look and their Goose & Firkin rejected the flashy corporate styles of the preceding decades”.

Britain’s Beer Revolution by Roger Protz and Adrian Tierney-Jones, published in 2014 by CAMRA Ltd. 

“It wasn’t until the 1980’s that the brewpub made a noticeable return to the London through David Bruce’s Firkin chain, which offered drinkers what was then a novel glimpse of a brewery at work while they drank”.

“Brewpubs: perhaps the most democratic expression of brewing there is”

Brew Britannia – the strange rebirth of British Beer by Boak & Bailey, published in 2014 by Aurum Press.

“ The roots of this sudden boom [in brewpubs after 1979] can be traced to the arrival on the scene, and instant success, of the Firkin chain of brewpubs… which, in may ways, prefigured that of the more modern craft breweries”. 

The Craft Beer Revolution by Steve Hindy, published in 2014 by Palgrave Macmillan

"Many of the pioneers attended the first Homebrewers and Microbrewers Conference held in 1982 in Boulder, Colorado.  Charlie Papazian, President of the American Brewers Association, was proud of the number of brewing-world luminaries who attended.  Among them was David Bruce, the Monty Python of the British microbrewing movement and founder of the Firkin chain of brewpubs".

The Microbrewers’ Handbook by Ted Bruning, published in 2013 by Paragraph Publishing.

“The success of the best-known figure in the history of micro-brewing in Britain, David Bruce, who chose pubs as the sites for his Firkin breweries, merely proves the point.  He put his first brewery into the cellars of the Duke of York in Southwark in 1979.  Renamed the Goose & Firkin, it was the first in a chain of brewpubs that eventually, under different ownership, covered the country”.

The Oxford Companion to Beer, edited by Garrett Oliver, Masterbrewer of the Brooklyn Brewery, published in 2012 by Oxford University Press.

“David Bruce has played a catalytic role in the craft brewing revival in Britain and beyond… The popularity of his Firkin pubs did not go unnoticed in the United States… Many American brewers have credited Bruce as their original inspiration and he later invested in several American craft breweries”.

Microbrewed Adventures by Charlie Papazian, President of the American Brewers Association, published in 2005 by HarperCollins.

“I believe that David and Louise Bruce, more than any other individuals, were responsible for igniting the worldwide brewpub revolution… David and Louise ignited not only America but the world”.

The Best of British Men, published in 1993 by Best of British Publications: “In 1979, David borrowed £10,000 and started Bruce’s Brewery at the Goose & Firkin in London.  During the next nine years he opened 12 Firkin Pubs and Breweries… before selling up for £6.6m…. (after which) he spent £80,000 on a specially-designed boat for disabled people to enjoy canal cruising holidays”.

Entrepreneur – Eight British Success Stories of the 1980s by Paul Burns and Tony Kippenberger, published in 1988 by Macmillan.  Forward by Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, “I congratulate all those featured in this book for their drive and determination to succeed despite the many difficulties they faced…”.

The New Beer Revolution by Brian Glover, published in 1988 by David & Charles Publishers

"David Bruce was the pioneer who popularised home-brew pubs, beginning with The Goose & Firkin in Southwark in 1979.  His madcap style was imitated but never matched by others, including the national brewers".

Londoners by Richard Bourne, published in 1981 by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd

"David Bruce, aged 31, is the brewer of Bruce's Bitter at The Goose & Firkin, the first new brew pub in London for many years.  He frequently runs from his home in Clapham to brew at The Goose & Firkin at 6 am".

The Death of the English Pub by Chris Hutt, published in 1973 by Arrow Books

"Paul Theakston and David Bruce are certainly the youngest management team in the brewing industry.  Like Young's, (Theakston's) policies are aimed at promoting their traditional approach rather than ditching it.  They have been remarkably successful to date".