Style & Winch Ltd
Style & Winch Ltd, Medway Brewery, St Peter's Street, Maidstone, Kent.
The Medway Brewery was built by William Baldwin in 1799. It became A F Style & Co.
Registered in March 1899 to merge A F Style & Co, and Edward Winch & Sons Ltd of Chatham with a total of 356 public houses. The Chatham Brewery was closed in 1899.
Acquisition History:
- They acquired H & O Vallance of Sittingbourne in 1905 and closed that brewery.
- They acquired Henry Simmons of Hadlow, Kent in 1905 with 14 houses and the brewery was closed.
- Tooting Brewery Ltd was acquired in November 1907 with 14 tied houses and was closed.
- Ashford Breweries Ltd Lion Brewery was acquired in 1912 and the brewery was closed.
- In 1918 they acquired Woodhams & Co. Ltd of Rochester and closed it.
- Edwin Finn & Sons Ltd of Lydd was acquired in 1921 with 42 tied houses and was closed.
- They acquired Royal Brewery (Brentford) Ltd in 1922; brewing ceased there in June 1923.
- The Dartford Brewery Co. Ltd was acquired in 1924. The Brentford and Dartford companies were identifiable as associate companies into the 1950s.
Style & Winch were acquired by Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd in March 1929 with 600 tied houses.
Ceased brewing 1965 and was demolished.
The Medway Brewery from "Kent Tells the World", 1933
And now for a word or two about the Brewery itself. That great red brick pile on the bank of the Medway, close to the Maidstone Bridge, surmounted by one of the most famous weather vanes in England, the old brown beer jug and glass – it used to be a standing joke to point this out to strangers and ask them to guess the capacity in gallons; the guesses were always wrong, more or less, the height of the vane from the ground being so misleading – here is the correct answer. The jug, which is made of copper, stands 5 feet high and holds 108 gallons; the glass is nearly 3 feet and holds nine gallons.
An assortment of images of the brewery
- Style & Winch 03 Roy Denison.jpg
Courtesy Roy Denison
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