Alex Hurst & Co

Alex Hurst & Co, Haslar Street Brewery, Gosport, Hampshire.

Purchased brewery from G B Puttock & Sons in 1887.

Sold to Noel Edward Kinnell and Arthur Hartley in 1896.

Later in that year they purchased Hipkin & Co's Emsworth Brewery and transferred brewing to Emsworth.

Patrick Miller writes:- In the mid 19th Century there were about 20 breweries operating, the three largest being situated within the town ramparts. This was an area of about 3/4 of a mile by 1 1/2 miles. The ramparts were part of a complicated defence system built between the 1600s and the 1900s to protect various naval and military installations in the area. About 6,000 people lived and worked in this area which contained about 70 public houses during the mid 1800s.

The oldest brewery was in Haslar Street, brewing having been started on this site in about 1550, by a Mother Puttock Brewing and Baking business. Josiah Goodeve was in residence on the site in 1783, passing the brewery on to his sons, Benjamin and John Goodeve, by 1823.

The next owner was Henry Nathaniel Byles, who was known to have been brewing between 1851 and 1855. George Bowden Puttock took over the brewery in 1871, having previously owned the Anchor Brewery, High Street, Littlehampton (see:- Constable & Sons Ltd), having moved to Littlehampton from the Swallow Brewery, Arundel in 1829.

Alex Hurst and Company, from the Star Brewery, Eastbourne, brewed on the site between 1887 and 1896. In 1896 Kinnell and Hartley from the Crown Brewery, Emsworth became the last owners to brew at the Haslar Street site. By 1922 the brewery had closed, the buildings being occupied and operated by Flux's Steam Laundry. Kinnell and Hartley were taken over by Henty and Constable in 1929. It is interesting to note that when George Henty and George S Constable merged in 1921, Constable had previously owned both the Puttock's Anchor and Swallow Breweries.

The pub which adjoined the Haslar Brewery was called the Sunderland Pink. This changed its name to the Haslar Tavern around the turn of the century. The former brewery was demolished by 1963, the Haslar Tavern, which was last owned by Watneys, was knocked down in 1965. No traces are now to be found, although some former tied houses are still open.

The Author wishes to thank Nicholas Redman, Whitbread Archivist, Ken Thomas, Courage Archivist and Nicholas Faulkner, Freelance Historian, for their assistance with this article.