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[[Image:MORTLAKE.JPG|thumb|Messrs. Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd., New Tun Room, Mortlake, London. Brewers' Journal 15th February 1902]]  
[[Image:MORTLAKE.JPG|thumb|Messrs. Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd., New Tun Room, Mortlake, London. Brewers' Journal 15th February 1902]]  
[[File:Watney Mortlake block before rebuilding.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:Mortlake Brewery Staff c1920.jpg|thumb|The Mortlake Brewery Staff circa 1920.]]
[[File:Mortlake Brewery Staff c1920.jpg|thumb|The Mortlake Brewery Staff circa 1920.]]
[[File:Watney Mortlake RD zx (2).jpg|thumb |Courtesy Roy Denison]]
[[File:Watney Mortlake RD zx (1).jpg|thumb |Courtesy Roy Denison]]
<big>'''Phillips, More & Co. Ltd,''''' Mortlake Brewery, 14 Mortlake High Street, London SW14.''</big>
<big>'''Phillips, More & Co. Ltd,''''' Mortlake Brewery, 14 Mortlake High Street, London SW14.''</big>


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'''[[BREWERS’ JOURNAL 15TH FEBRUARY, 1926]]'''
'''[[BREWERS’ JOURNAL 15TH FEBRUARY, 1926]]'''
'''Tony Crosby writes:-'''
In January 2009 InBev announced that they intend to close the Stag Brewery in Mortlake, London. As well as the loss of about 200 jobs, this closure will bring to an end over 500 years of brewing on this site. The brewery dates from 1487 when it was attached to a monastery and brewed for the local abbot and his monks, before becoming a substantial commercial brewery in 1765. Charles James Phillips took over the brewery in the 1840s, and he and James Wigan redeveloped it in 1869. They created the sprawling 100 acre site which remains today. In June 1888 it was registered as More & Co Ltd and sold to Watney & Co Ltd in 1889 when it was renamed Phillips More & Co Ltd. (James Wigan appears to have left the brewery in about 1876 to take over the [[Hawkes & Co]] brewery in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts.)
The brewery was renamed the Stag Brewery in 1959 following the closure of Watney’s brewery of the same name in Westminster. Watney produced their first keg beer here in the 1930s – ‘Red Barrel’, rebranded as just ‘Red’ in the 1960s. They sold their business to Courage which became part of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, who leased the site to Anheuser-Busch to brew Budweiser in London. They merged with InBev which created a company with more capacity than is needed at a time of declining demand for lager.
Little remains of the 1869 brewery structures or other buildings of historic significance as virtually the whole site within the boundary wall was demolished and redeveloped in the 1970s, when it was also expanded to the west of the site. On the northwest corner of the site facing the River Thames is a former multi-storey malthouse of brick under a slate roof, apparently built in the early 20th century and certainly the scale is that of late 19th / early 20th century malthouses. According to the 1907 Goad fire insurance plan this structure consisted of (from west to east) 10 bays of growing floors, a block of two (probably pyramidal) kilns (Nos 1 & 2), an area of silos and maltscreens and then two more (probably pyramidal) kilns (Nos 3 & 4). The area of silos and maltscreens appears from the plan to have had the hoist for taking in the barley and / or taking out the malt to the rest of the brewery on the south elevation. Attached to the growing floor area, next to kilns 1 & 2 were a gas engine house and an electric motor housing. Unfortunately all that remains of malthouse is the 10 bays of the growing floor area, the first 8 bays being of 8 storeys, the other two bays (next to kilns 1 & 2) being 9 storeys.
The boundary of the site, where the demolished half of the malthouse would have been, is formed of a modern brick wall. Beyond that new wall to the northeast corner of the site the boundary consists of a screen wall of various dates and styles, although all the styles have features of industrial buildings, such as windows with arched brick headings, blind arcading etc. Some of the walls are probably remaining external walls from earlier brewery buildings. This use of external walls of earlier buildings continues for the short stretch of the site up to Mortlake High Street and then westwards along the High Street boundary of the site. What appears to be the only original 1869 building to remain on the site is the office block fronting Mortlake High Street, with the brewery name and date – ‘Mortlake Brewery 1869’ – and two plaques with the monogram which appears to be ‘PW’ for Phillips and Wigan, the 1869 developers of the site. This 1869 block may also have contained the bottling hall.
The other feature of historical importance is the Watney’s War Memorial and interpretive plaque which were erected in a new wall of the expanded site to the west of the original site, on Lower Richmond Road. The memorial was moved from the former Watney Stag Brewery site in Victoria.
'''The brewery in 1959'''
<gallery>
File:Watney Mortlake c 1950s (2).jpg
File:Watney Mortlake c 1950s (3).jpg
File:Watney Mortlake c 1950s (4).jpg
File:Watney Mortlake c 1950s (5).jpg
File:Watney Mortlake c 1950s (1).jpg
File:Mortlake Workers 1973.jpg
File:WatneyMortlake 1959 (2).jpg
File:Watney Mortlake fermenting vessel zxvc.jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (1).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (3).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (5).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (6).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (7).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 (10).jpg
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 Simon Combe (8).jpg|Simon Combe featured
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 Simon Combe (9).jpg|Simon Combe featured
File:Watney Staff at Mortlake 1959 Simon Combe centre (4).jpg|Simon Combe is in the centre
File:Watney Mortlake hops being added.jpg
</gallery>




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File:Mortlake sample room.jpg|The sample room
File:Mortlake sample room.jpg|The sample room
File:Mortlake site.jpg
File:Mortlake site.jpg
File:Mortlake Workers 1973.jpg|From 1973
File:Watney Mortlake brochure 1970s (9).jpg|From a company brochure circa 1970
File:Watney Mortlake brochure 1970s (9).jpg|From a company brochure circa 1970
File:Watney Mortlake brochure 1970s (8).jpg|From a company brochure circa 1970
File:Watney Mortlake brochure 1970s (8).jpg|From a company brochure circa 1970
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File:Mortlake 1991 5.jpg
File:Mortlake 1991 5.jpg
File:Mortlake 1991 6.jpg
File:Mortlake 1991 6.jpg
File:Mortlake Paul Gunnell 2.jpg
File:Mortlake Paul Gunnell 3.jpg
File:Mortlake Paul Gunnell 4.jpg
File:Mortlake PG 2.jpg
File:Mortlake PG 3.jpg
File:Mortlake PG.jpg
File:Mortlake frontage.jpg
</gallery>
</gallery>



Latest revision as of 14:34, 27 May 2023

Messrs. Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd., New Tun Room, Mortlake, London. Brewers' Journal 15th February 1902
Watney Mortlake block before rebuilding.jpg
The Mortlake Brewery Staff circa 1920.
Courtesy Roy Denison
Courtesy Roy Denison

Phillips, More & Co. Ltd, Mortlake Brewery, 14 Mortlake High Street, London SW14.

Founded at the near-by Manor House in the 15th Century.

Acquired by Charles James Phillips in the 1840s. Registered in June 1888 as More & Co. Ltd.

Acquired by Watney & Co. Ltd. in 1889. Watney amalgamated with Combe's and Reid's in 1898 to form Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd.

The Mortlake brewery was renamed the Stag Brewery in 1959 after the closure of Watney’s Stag Brewery in Pimlico.

After further changes of ownership (Elders XL 1990, Courage brewing 1991, ABInBev 2002), ABInBev closed the Mortlake Brewery and sold the site to developers in 2015.


BREWERS’ JOURNAL 15TH FEBRUARY, 1926


Tony Crosby writes:-

In January 2009 InBev announced that they intend to close the Stag Brewery in Mortlake, London. As well as the loss of about 200 jobs, this closure will bring to an end over 500 years of brewing on this site. The brewery dates from 1487 when it was attached to a monastery and brewed for the local abbot and his monks, before becoming a substantial commercial brewery in 1765. Charles James Phillips took over the brewery in the 1840s, and he and James Wigan redeveloped it in 1869. They created the sprawling 100 acre site which remains today. In June 1888 it was registered as More & Co Ltd and sold to Watney & Co Ltd in 1889 when it was renamed Phillips More & Co Ltd. (James Wigan appears to have left the brewery in about 1876 to take over the Hawkes & Co brewery in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts.)

The brewery was renamed the Stag Brewery in 1959 following the closure of Watney’s brewery of the same name in Westminster. Watney produced their first keg beer here in the 1930s – ‘Red Barrel’, rebranded as just ‘Red’ in the 1960s. They sold their business to Courage which became part of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, who leased the site to Anheuser-Busch to brew Budweiser in London. They merged with InBev which created a company with more capacity than is needed at a time of declining demand for lager.

Little remains of the 1869 brewery structures or other buildings of historic significance as virtually the whole site within the boundary wall was demolished and redeveloped in the 1970s, when it was also expanded to the west of the site. On the northwest corner of the site facing the River Thames is a former multi-storey malthouse of brick under a slate roof, apparently built in the early 20th century and certainly the scale is that of late 19th / early 20th century malthouses. According to the 1907 Goad fire insurance plan this structure consisted of (from west to east) 10 bays of growing floors, a block of two (probably pyramidal) kilns (Nos 1 & 2), an area of silos and maltscreens and then two more (probably pyramidal) kilns (Nos 3 & 4). The area of silos and maltscreens appears from the plan to have had the hoist for taking in the barley and / or taking out the malt to the rest of the brewery on the south elevation. Attached to the growing floor area, next to kilns 1 & 2 were a gas engine house and an electric motor housing. Unfortunately all that remains of malthouse is the 10 bays of the growing floor area, the first 8 bays being of 8 storeys, the other two bays (next to kilns 1 & 2) being 9 storeys.

The boundary of the site, where the demolished half of the malthouse would have been, is formed of a modern brick wall. Beyond that new wall to the northeast corner of the site the boundary consists of a screen wall of various dates and styles, although all the styles have features of industrial buildings, such as windows with arched brick headings, blind arcading etc. Some of the walls are probably remaining external walls from earlier brewery buildings. This use of external walls of earlier buildings continues for the short stretch of the site up to Mortlake High Street and then westwards along the High Street boundary of the site. What appears to be the only original 1869 building to remain on the site is the office block fronting Mortlake High Street, with the brewery name and date – ‘Mortlake Brewery 1869’ – and two plaques with the monogram which appears to be ‘PW’ for Phillips and Wigan, the 1869 developers of the site. This 1869 block may also have contained the bottling hall.

The other feature of historical importance is the Watney’s War Memorial and interpretive plaque which were erected in a new wall of the expanded site to the west of the original site, on Lower Richmond Road. The memorial was moved from the former Watney Stag Brewery site in Victoria.


The brewery in 1959


An assortment of views of the brewery


A view of the brewery site, March 2018. Courtesy Evelyn & Paul Williams