The story
In 1711, W. H. Brakspear bought a brewery on Bell Street, Henley-on-Thames. The Brakspear family was distantly related to Nicholas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV in 1154 — the only Englishman to become Pope. In 1812, the brewery moved to a Thames-side location on New Street.
The brewery was used in 1990 episode of Inspector Morse, "Sins of the Fathers". In 2002, W. H. Brakspear & Sons licensed the brewing of its beers to Refresh UK, owner of Wychwood Brewery, and the brewery ceased production and closed. The site was sold and part of it converted to a Hotel du Vin boutique hotel.
The now non-brewing Brakspear Pub Company and its estate of 104 pubs was bought in 2006 by pub chain J. T. Davies for £106 million; the 51 Davies pubs were rebranded as Brakspear. After being brewed at Burtonwood, Cheshire, production of Brakspear beers was moved, along with some of the historic Henley brewing vessels, to Refresh's Wychwood Brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire. Refresh UK was subsequently bought out by Marston's.
In spring 2013 Brakspear Pub Company made a limited return to brewing with the commissioning of the Bell Street Brewery in its Bull public house in Bell Street, Henley-on-Thames.
Following the 2023 closure of the Wychwood Brewery in Witney, production of Brakspear's brands temporarily transferred to the Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton. When the Wolverhampton site shut down at the end of August 2025, Brakspear's production shifted to Carlsberg's heavily upgraded brewery in Burton-upon-Trent.
As of September 2026, Brakspear beers are now being brewed by Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey and have returned to the original Double Drop fermentation method.
From Wikipedia’s article on Brakspear Brewery, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4