Eldridge, Pope & Co. Ltd








Eldridge, Pope & Co Ltd, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester, Dorset.
Founded in 1837 when Charles Eldridge leased the Green Dragon Brewery in Dorchester. The Eldridge family also operated the Pale Ale Brewery in Dorchester from 1854.
The new Dorchester Brewery opened in 1880, and the two earlier breweries were closed. Registered May 1897 with 74 public houses.
- Edward Snelling's Hyde Street Brewery of Winchester was acquired with 5 pubs in 1886.
- Styring & Co, Poole Brewery, was acquired with 34 pubs in 1905.
- The Marnhull and Tisbury Breweries of Jennings Styring White & Co plus 36 houses were acquired in 1913.
- Woolmington Brothers of Sherborne were acquired in 1922 with 8 houses.
The pub estate was separated from brewing in 1996 and retained by the Pope family. A management buy-out of the brewery was followed by a merger in 1998 with Burtonwood Brewery Co.(Forshaws) Ltd; trading as Thomas Hardy Burtonwood. The Eldridge Pope brands were not supported by the pub company. The brewery closed in 2003 with all production, mainly contract brewing, transferred to Burtonwood. The Dorchester brewery is still standing but has been developed for residential use.
The pub estate was sold to Michael Cannon in 2004, who then sold it to Marstons in 2006.
The brewery features in The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland by Alfred Barnard published 1890.
At one point Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd, Rayment & Co. Ltd and Eldridge, Pope "shared" a common Trade Mark
The redevelopment of the brewery in 1923. Courtesy Alex Mettler
The gentlemen in the photograph is Alfred Richards, brewer, the grandson of John Richards who founded the Brook Street Brewery in Tavistock in 1851, see Johnstone & Johnstone. After a short, early dabble as a bank clerk in Kingsbridge in 1891 Alfred John Richards was a brewery worker in Stratford-on-Avon in 1901, possibly with Flower & Sons Ltd which was training brewery workers around this period, followed by a career with Eldridge Pope. Alfred died in Alverstoke Registration District (Gosport area) in January 1954.
An assortment of views of the brewery
-
The brewery in 1978. Courtesy Roy Denison
-
The brewery in 1978. Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Derek Taylor
-
Courtesy Derek Taylor
-
Courtesy "Watneys Red Barrel" in 2007
-
Courtesy "Watneys Red Barrel" in 2007
-
Courtesy "Watneys Red Barrel" in 2007
-
Courtesy "Watneys Red Barrel" in 2007
-
Signage from their depot in Winchester
-
Signage from their depot in Winchester
The brewery in 1990
The following images were taken on a BHS Visit in 2002. Courtesy Jeff Sechiari
The BHS explored the site in October 2021
-
Brewery chimney
-
Base of the chimney
-
Maltings
-
Maltings
-
Maltings
-
Maltings
-
A typical street sign in Brewery Square
-
The timber posts around the site feature this image
Dorchester South Railway Station, built 1986
-
WRB 2007
-
AH 2014
-
SP 2021
-
SP 2021
-
SP 2021
Beer mats and labels
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
-
Courtesy Roy Denison
|