Pubs & Breweries in Wateringbury

In the 50's and 60's that I remember there were eight pubs and one brewery though a few years before there had been an additional Pub that was demolished to make way for the airfield during the second world war, there was also a second brewery. Two breweries in the village, one owned by Jude Hanbury at the top of Bow Road where Hanbury Close now is and one further down Bow road owned by Leneys where Leneys Road now is. Both were later owned by Whitbreads and then the lower owned by Fremlins. All the brewing families lived in the village.

The Kings Head Hotel was in the Tonbribge Road on the Maidstone side of the cross roads, probably the newest as it was built just before the old Kings Head on the Cross Roads was demolished. The Queens Head was on the other side of the Tonbridge road towards Tonbridge, The Harrow was next in Old Road and this was run for a while by my grandfather, further towards Tonbridge was the Duke Without a Head, in Bow Road there was the Telegraph where I had my first half pint of bitter and the Railway, up the hill in Red Hill was The Phoenix and at the top The North Pole. and then there was Wateringbury Working Men's Club. Today only the Working Men's Club, Kings Head and the Railway survive.

I remember when I was very young living in Bow Cottages, whenever there was a thunderstorm my mum would say the thunder was where the men were rolling the beer barrels at the brewery! at this end of the village there was always a smell of malt from the brewery which we never really thought about. I remember large yellow trucks constantly taking steaming barley and yeast away. I wish I had some photos of the brewery in Bow Road.

The brewery was just across the garden where Leney Road now is. I remember coming home from school for lunch one day and found a beer tanker had been parked outside the brewery without the hand brake being secure and it ran down the road straight across Bow Road into Wardens Close opposite , down the hill straight into the house at the bottom of the hill. Great

excitement!

The Jude Hanbury & Co Brewery at the top of Bow Road seen here as the large building on the right as taken in 1915

Below you can see the Phoenix Brewery on the right as looking up Bow Road towards the Cross Roads.

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The Inn Signs for Whitbread were designed and painted at Phoenix Brewery as seen below.

Above shows Leonard Smith outlining the Inn Sign 

Kindly confirmed by his Granddaughter Clare Nicholls