The Cliff Brewery is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 b ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

, England. The building dates to 1896 and was designed by William Bradford.

Location

The building is located on Cliff Lane, near the Ipswich wet dock.

History

The business that became Cliff Brewery was started in 1723 (in Kings Quay Street,

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-o ...

) by Thomas Cobbold and is believed to be the second oldest independent brewery in England. Thomas senior started to transport fresh water from Holywells by barge to Harwich as the spring water was better than the brackish water available in Harwich. His son

Thomas Cobbold (1708–1767) Thomas Cobbold (1708 – 21 April 1767) was an English brewer in Harwich and Ipswich; he succeeded to the family brewing business founded by his father, also Thomas Cobbold. Family Thomas married Sarah Cobboll in 1738. Several of their children ...

then relocated the brewery to Ipswich where the original building stood above the quays of the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, about half a mile below where the river beco ...

since 1746. The current building of 1896 is a tower brewery by William Bradford. It became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1989; the listing includes the interior fixtures and fittings. Nearby Cliff House was the home of John Cobbold and

Elizabeth Cobbold Elizabeth Cobbold or Carolina Petty Pasty born Elizabeth Knipe (1767 – 17 October, 1824) was an English writer and poet. Life Cobbold was born Elizabeth Knipe in Watling Street, London in 1767 to Robert Knipe. Her mother's maiden name was Wal ...

before they moved to live at

Holywells Park, Ipswich Holywells Park is a public park in Ipswich, England situated between Nacton Road and Cliff Lane, near to the Ipswich Waterfront. History Tools from the stone age have been found on the site, as well as bronze age axes and Roman coins. In the ...

in 1814. It became the Brewery Tap public house. Cobbold merged with local rival, Tollemache Breweries in 1957 to form

Tolly Cobbold Tolly Cobbold is a former brewery in Suffolk, England. 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 fam ...

. The brewery ceased operations in 2002, when the Tolly Cobbold company merged with

Ridley's brewery Ridley's Brewery is a defunct brewery. It was founded in 1842, and was located in Hartford End, Essex. In August 2002 the company bought out the Tolly Cobbold brewery. Then, in 2005 Ridley's was bought by Greene King for £45.6 million closing i ...

. After it became disused, schemes were put forward to convert the Cliff Brewery into housing and a mixed-use development. Planning permission was granted in 2016 for a business and educational centre, but the owner sold it in May 2019 without having begun work. Conversion into housing and a theatre was later considered.

The Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by la ...

listed the building in 2015 as one of the most endangered in England. In February 2020 a fire broke out in the building; arrests were made on suspicion of

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

Plans for redevelopment

Prior plans from 2020 proposed a renovation and expansion including a visitor and education centre with theatre and arts spaces linked to the local university, but these fell through due to a lack of funds. The Cliff Brewery was sold at auction through estate agents

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London ...

in November 2021. In spring 2022 the new owner of the site submitted pre-application proposals to the borough for redevelopment of the site.

References

External links

{{oscoor gbx, TM170431 Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Grade II listed buildings in Ipswich 1746 establishments in England Food and drink companies established in 1746 Tower breweries Commercial buildings completed in 1896 British companies established in 1746