Hendon Brewery

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Hendon Brewery (originally Kingsbury and Hyde Brewery and not to be confused with the Darwin Brewery in Hendon, Sunderland) was started by James Robb for Mr William Field of Kingsbury House in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, and seems originally to have been a domestic

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

for the house with Robb conducting a little business on the side by 1851. With the growth of the Welsh Harp as a place of entertainment, Robb expanded the business by engaging engineers to build a new brewery in The Hyde by 1855. Having dug a new well, the water, which was raised by two horses, was itself sold as a valuable source of revenue. The trade was slow, and Robb was only managing to sell one barrel a week in low season. With the fluctuations in demand Robb was unable to meet the repayments of his debt from the expansion, and had to sell the brewery (c1861). The next owner was Arthur Ocran Crooke, who reputedly purchased it for £140. Crooke was only in his early 20s but had come from a commercial brewing family, GW and FA Crooke of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, and was able to manage the changes in supply and demand. With the construction of the railway a few years later he was able to supply the beer directly to Waring Bros and the hundreds of navvies engaged on the building of the line. From the money he made from this Mr Crooke bought up a number of inns in

and

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

, including the Surrey Arms (which he rebuilt). In 1872 a

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

was introduced to speed up the process, and in 1874 he expanded. The Brewery was destroyed by fire on 29 August 1878, and was reopened the following year, having been completely rebuilt by J P Dunne of Church Lane, Hendon from the insurance money. In 1892 and 1893 the brewery expanded to twice its size and included property over the road on the

Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent ** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station * Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...

side of the Edgware Road. The new site was fitted with a brand new “trim little” steam engine, and ably assisted by his manager of 20 years, Mr H Woolley, Hendon Brewery was now brewing several hundred barrels of beer a week, and distributing it throughout

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. It was said to taste not unlike Burton Ale. Compressed

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hay, which was stored in the loft, caught light early on the morning of 15 March 1894 and the brewery burned down for a second time. Crooke had gambled on the expansion with the money for the insurance; he was unable to provide the capital to rebuild the brewery again. Forced to sell his interest the following year to Messrs Michell and Aldous for £83,000, he moved to

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

where he died in 1902, his will broken. Messrs Michell and Aldous continued at Hendon until 1920 when the site was sold to

Truman's Brewery Truman's Brewery was a large East London brewery and one of the largest brewers in the world at the end of the 19th century. Founded around 1666, the Black Eagle Brewery was established on a plot of land next to what is now Brick Lane in London, E1 ...

. Hendon Brewery closed in 1959. Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom 1851 establishments in England 1959 disestablishments in England History of the London Borough of Barnet