History of Butcombe/Liberation breweries
Butcombe Brewery Founded 1978
The idea of Butcombe was a plan that Simon Whitmore the Managing Director of Courage Western in Bristol had devised and once executed he decided to accept redundancy from Courage and to set up his own brewery at his home at Rusling House in Butcombe, a small village south of Bristol. The small brewery was founded in September 1978 in buildings to the side of his house.
Butcombe Original was the first and only beer produced for a number of years. Setting up the brewery meant that Simon needed some plant and this was obtained mainly from Allied breweries at Burton on Trent. Simon even drove to Burton in his Bedford 35 cwt truck to pick up the equipment and brought back the the initial plant. By 1982 he had extended to a 20 barrel plant. In 1984 the brewery had become one of the most successful new small breweries having one pub and over 100 free trade outlets mainly around Bristol.
By 1989 and the MMC report he was brewing to capacity still with just one beer Butcombe Bitter OG 1039 coming in at 4.1%, described as "A pale brown-coloured beer with a hoppy/bitter taste some malt with a bitter finish , a crisp refreshing beer. In 1993 the annual barrellage had reach around 10,000 barrels. His new plan was to expand into an adjoining barn and to expand production by at least 50%. At the time he had 3 non tied public houses.
1992/93 the brewery was doubled in size for the third time giving an 80 barrel brew length and with almost all the original plant replaced. They now had over 300 free trade outlets mostly within 50 miles of the brewery. By 1995 wholesalers were being used to supply pubs outside the 50 mile radius.
When Simon decided to retire in 2003 he sold the brewery to Guy Newell, the founder of beer seller, who had his background in running Casinos across the world.. He had given that up and had purchased a pub called Ye Olde Two Brewers in Shaftsbury Dorset and made it very successful. He became hooked on the beer trade and started selling numerous guest beers in the pub. Following on this lead ultimately to him founding Beer Seller to supply numerous other pubs. 16 years later in 2000 he sold the business to Bulmers when the company was, by then a national company with a £200 million turnover and employing 800 staff. After the sale he was wondering what to do next and as Butcombe was one of beer sellers best customers he approached Simon Whitmore. After a great deal of negotiation he was able to purchase the brewery and 6 freehold pubs. The current site was difficult to say the least. Poor access, no mains gas, and no mains sewage. As well as that Simon had specified that the brewery site would have to be vacate within 2 years.
The purchase was finalised in 2003 and the new company was now owned by Guy Newell, Paul Horsley and family friends. Guy became the Company's Managing Director and consultant for another 3 years before moving on to take a financial stake in Bristol Beer Factory. The company set about other new ventures which later included Long Ashton Cider Company named after the famous Cider research establishment nearby..
In 2004 a new brewery was built on a new site at Cox's green Wrington covering 14,000 sq. ft. with a 150 barrel plant by then the number of houses had risen to 9 and they had approximately 350 other outlets which were supplied direct from the brewery, and a similar number in the free trade via wholesalers. The original cask beer which was the brewery's only product was now joined by Blond at 4.3% and gold at 4.7%, Gorham IPA, low alcohol beer and numerous other beers became available in cans and bottles and some of the draught beers were kegged.
By 2010 the number of houses had grown to 15, all free houses and a winter beer called Brunel IPA at 5% was also brewed. 2013 saw the number of houses increase to 21 and, with a well known presenter they had introduced Adam Henson's Rare Breed at 4.2% in cask using barley grown in the Cotswolds mostly on his farm.
In 2015 Butcombe brewery was purchased by the Liberation group based in the Channel Islands for a reported £15 million and the company had reduced some of the non profitable houses to 18 in total on the mainland. This purchase increased the number of tied pubs considerably and casks of Butcombe found their way to Channel Islands pubs of Liberation Brewery.
Still trading separately on the mainland, Butcombe brewery now had around 500 outlets delivered directly and a similar via pub companies and wholesalers.
In 2018 the company opened a new distribution centre with a bottling line in Bridgewater Somerset, close to the M5 and had a mainland estate of around 20 managed and 20 tenanted pubs.
Since 2004 the Liberation Brewery, previously called The Ann Street Brewery Jersey, had traded separately from Butcombe. Equipped with a 40 barrel plant in stainless steel and a small 8 barrel plant of copper formally from the Tipsy toad brewery they operated from the main depot at Tregear House St Saviour on the edge of St Hellier. This had previously been a Coca Cola bottling plant before the company had moved from the Ann Street brewery. The Head brewer had been Paul Hurley with Pat Dean as second brewer. Pat had previously brewed at The Tipsy Toad home brew pub in Jersey.
When Paul retired Pat took over. One of the beers they were famous for was "Mary Ann" but this was only brewed occasionally after moving to Tregear House. The main push was for Liberation IPA. A special beer called Liberation 140 was brewed in 2013 to celebrate 170 years of Jersey brewing and won a bronze medal at the International Brewing Awards. Liberation IPA also won several different awards.
In 2014 the brewery won three awards for beers at the British Bottlers Institute and a Gold Medal for their Liberation IPA. and in 2015 Liberation brewery recorded the 70 years of Liberation of the Channel Islands by bring out a special beer called Liberation a Golden Ale at 4%. The occasional brews include Christmas Ale at 4.5%,Herm Island Gold, Liberation Blonde Bailiwick Best and Premium Pony,(Previously a Guernsey Brewery beer).
Regrettably, due to the switch to lagers, the costs of bringing materials to the island and competition from National brands as well as a fall in the sales of cask ales the decision was made in the Autumn 2025 to close the Liberation Brewery. The last brew was on the 1st October 2025. The stainless steel brewhouse and Pat Dean both moved to Wrighton and Liberation pubs were then supplied with Butcombe cask beers from Wrington. The tipsy toad plant had already been removed. In a visit to the brewery in the Summer of 2025 I came on a day when the company had obtained an agreement to supply Hawkstone beers on the Island much to the annoyance of Randalls Vautier Ltd Jersey, the company's main competitor who had hoped to get the agreement. The Channel Island part of the operation has around 44 pubs in Jersey and 22 in Guernsey with 2 in Alderney and is a major wholesaler in both Guernsey and Jersey.
Products from Butcombe are now supplied already packed to the Channel Islands and it is hoped to have the Liberation plant working at Wrighton and to brew the Liberation beers there for Jersey and Guernsey. Recently the company has purchased a large road tanker to transfer beers brewed at Wrington to Bridgewater where bottling, canning and keg racking takes place. Cask racking is carried out at Wrington.
The Liberation Group is owned by London based Investment group Caledonia Investments which is controlled by The Cayzer family who also own a shipping company. The Group now have 120 pubs mainly in Jersey, Guernsey and in Somerset, Avon, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and even London. In 2026 the company rebranded it's self as "Butcombe Group"
During the last seven years the company has had a policy of purchasing quality pubs on the mainland and has acquired pubs from Wadworth, Brains and Cirrus Inns concentrating on outlets that have potential for letting rooms which they expect to double from 400 to over 700 rooms over the next few years.
Successes recently include Gorham IPA low alcohol beer, and with their Butcombe Original which has now overtaken Molsons Coors Doom Bar as the best selling cask beer in the South West. By far my favourite beer is a cask ale brewed in the winter and called "Chris Moose."
The company reward loyal customers with a Free Loyalty card which gives holders not only discount points but reduced price drinks close to their birthday and on Wednesdays a reduction of food prices in their managed pubs as well as reduced prices of drinks on Thursdays.
See also a BHS publication by Geoff Dye called "Brewery on the beach" a history of the Guernsey brewery. Journal number 192 dated Autumn 2022.