Fuller's Brewery in
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and ...
in the west of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
was a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019. In that year, the brewing division of
Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC was sold to the Japanese international beverage giant
Asahi.
John Fuller's Griffin Brewery dates from 1816; in 1845, his son, John Bird Fuller, was joined by Henry Smith and John Turner.
Fuller, Smith & Turner owns and operates more than 380
pubs, inns and hotels across the south of England.
History
Beer has been brewed on Fuller's historic Griffin Brewery site in
Old Chiswick
Old Chiswick is the area of the original village beside the river Thames for which the modern district of Chiswick is named. The village grew up around St Nicholas Church, founded c. 1181 and named for the patron saint of fishermen. The placenam ...
since the seventeenth century. From the original brewery in the gardens of Bedford House on
Chiswick Mall
Chiswick Mall is a waterfront street on the north bank of the river Thames in the oldest part of Chiswick in West London, with a row of large houses from the Georgian and Victorian eras overlooking the street on the north side, and their gar ...
, the business expanded and thrived until the early part of the nineteenth century. Money problems forced the owners, Douglas and Henry Thompson and Philip Wood, to seek a partner.
John Fuller, of
Neston Park, Wiltshire was approached to see if he would inject the required amount of money. In 1829 he joined the enterprise, but the partnership proved a difficult one and in 1841 Douglas Thompson fled to France and the partnership was dissolved. It became apparent that it was difficult for one man with no brewing experience to run a brewery of that size alone. In 1845 John Fuller's son, John Bird Fuller, was joined by Henry Smith from the
Romford Brewery
The Star Brewery was a brewery in Romford, England. For much of its history, it was a main industry