Tolly Cobbold is a former

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 bee ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

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History

The name Tolly Cobbold is an amalgamation of the two family-run brewers: the Tollemache Brewery owned by the Tollemache family and the Cobbold Brewery owned by the Cobbold family. The original Cobbold brewery was founded in

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton- ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in 1723 and in 1746 the Cobbold Cliff Brewery was founded, at Cliff Lane,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. The current building of 1896 is a tower brewery by William Bradford. The ''Tollemache Brewery'' was founded in 1888 by three sons of John Tollemache, 1st Baron Tollemache. The family acquired Ipswich Brewery from ''Cullingham & Co.'' in 1880, the Essex Brewery at Walthamstow in 1920, a controlling share of the Star Brewery, Cambridge in 1930 and full control in 1947. Tollemache and Cobbold merged in 1958 to form Tolly Cobbold. Peter Scully, head brewer at Tolly Cobbold until his departure in 1977 remarked that the decline in the number of agricultural workers in the Suffolk villages which both breweries served, meant that the two companies had to merge, and where there were two rival pubs, either the Tolly pub or Cobbold pub was closed. Tolly Cobbold was taken over by

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in 1977 who sold it to the Barclay brothers in 1983 who then sold it to Brent Walker in 1989. Brent Walker announced they would close the brewery for development as a marina, with production of Tolly Cobbold beers to transfer to

Camerons Brewery Camerons Brewery Ltd is an English brewery established by John William Cameron in Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectolitr ...

. Brian Cowie and Bob Wales led a management buy-out of the brewery (but not the pubs) for £4m, supported by the Tollemaches and Cobbolds among others. The brewery was then acquired by Ridley's Brewery in 2002, who closed the Cliff Brewery. Ridley's Brewery was taken over by Suffolk-based

Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. ...

in 2005. Ridley's continued to brew just one Tolly Cobbold beer, Tolly Original, in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Lond ...

. Greene King have not indicated any plans to continue brewing it, but remained a major sponsor of

Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in EFL League One, League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not ...

, which was established by the Cobbold family in 1878.

Cobbold family

The Cobbolds have an important status in Ipswich as the family were landowners in the town and surrounding area.

John Chevalier Cobbold John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1797-1882) was descended from "Big" John Cobbold (1746-1835), a 3rd generation brewer. Christchurch Park was donated to "The people of Ipswich" by the family, along with many other donations of land such as Ipswich Racecourse. The family also provided several

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...

for Ipswich over the years. In addition they have provided five chairmen of Ipswich Town Football Club. Lady Blanche Cobbold was president of the club for many years. ITFC have named a stand in their stadium and a prestigious member's club after the Cobbold family.

Tolly Cobbold beers

Beers in the range included Tolly Original, Cobnut, Tolly Bitter, Tolly Mild, Old Strong, Old Strong Porter (bottle only). Tollyshooter (named in honour of the visit of Sir John Harvey-Jones to the brewery shortly after the 1990 management takeover) Cantab, Cardinal Ale, Cobbold's Conquest, Cobbold's IPA (a straw-coloured bitter), Beano Stout, Countdown, Election Ale (1997), Suffolk Ale, Final Brew and Last Orders – a final brew in 2002. For a short time in the 1960s, Tolly Cobbold produced an infamous lager known as Husky Brew, which John Cobbold himself compared to a dog's urine.

References

External links

Tolly Cobbold Cliff Brewery
- photos taken in Spring 2007
Tolly Cobbold Heritage
- An in depth history of the Tolly Cobbold Brewery Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom History of Suffolk Ipswich Companies based in Suffolk Cobbold family Tollemache family Companies based in Ipswich

History

Cobbold family

Tolly Cobbold beers

References

Further reading

External links