The Star Brewery was a

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 be ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, England. For much of its history, it was a main industryBritish History Online
- Romford Economic History, (1978) and a significant employer in the area. It was closed in 1993. The site was redeveloped as a shopping centre named The Brewery, which opened in 2001.Havering London Borough Council
- Romford Town Centre The brewery produced John Bull Bitter, named after the archetypal English farmer.

History

The brewery was founded in 1708 by Benjamin WilsonBrewery History Society,
East London Brewery History
', (2000) as an attachment to the Star Inn on the high street, then the main road to the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, and beside the

River Rom The River Rom, also known as the River Beam below its confluence with the Ravensbourne, is a tributary of the River Thames in England that flows through east London suburbs surrounding the metropolitan centre of Romford, part of it forming a sec ...

. The inn and brewery were purchased by Edward Ind in 1799 becoming part of Ind Smith, and from 1845 the company was known as

Ind Coope Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The bre ...

when Octavius and Edward Coope joined.

Romford railway station Romford railway station is an interchange station on the Great Eastern Main Line, serving the town of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, east London. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and . It is ...

was opened to the south of the site in 1839 and in the 1860s a connection was made between the goods yard in South Street and the brewery via a tunnel under the railway line, the access to the railway enabling significant expansion. By 1908, with its own network of railway sidings, the brewery employed 450 workers and by 1970 it occupied and had 1,000 workers. The brewery was closed in 1993 and demolished. The site was redeveloped in 2001 as The Brewery shopping centre, with one of the 160 ft (50 m) chimneys incorporated into the design. Part of the site is used to house the Havering Museum.

References

External links

Romford Now & Then
- Image of chimney {{coord, 51.57532, 0.17953, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Havering Breweries in London Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Brewery buildings Romford