The story
McMullen's was founded in 1827 in Back Street (now Railway Street) Hertford by Peter McMullen (1798-1881), the son of an Irish nurseryman.
The passing of the Beerhouse Act in 1830 enabled Peter McMullen to open his own beerhouse named after William IV in Mill Bridge, Hertford. The passing of the Beerhouse Act acted as a stimulus to common brewing and led to an increase in the number of breweries in Hertford, peaking at eight in Hertford in 1838. In 1966 McMullen's were the sole survivor.
In 1860 Peter McMullen passed the business onto his sons Alexander Henry and Osmond Henry McMullen who began trading as P. McMullen & Sons. The company expanded during this period and acquired a number of local breweries. As the business grew it moved to Old Cross, Hertford in 1891 and a new brewery was built. The new brewery was designed by William Bradford and is now a Grade II listed building. In 1897 the brewery became a limited company, McMullen & Sons Ltd, when it owned 90 pubs. Osmond Henry became Chairman of the new company whilst Alexander Henry retired from the brewery and founded a seed merchant in Hertford.
By 1902 McMullen's were the second largest brewery in Hertfordshire, behind Benskins Brewery of Watford and owned 131 pubs Osmond Henry died in May 1914 and his son Lieutenant colonel Osmond Robert became chairman. Osmond Henrys's grandson Peter, a former Special Operations Executive colonel, ran the brewery from 1946 to 1980. In 1966 the brewery owned 200 pubs. A modern brewhouse was built in 1984 when John McMullen was company director.
From the 1960s until the early 1990s, Mac's also brewed a range of kids' soft drinks that were sold at their pubs and also in the local ice cream stands and newsagent shops. These included lemonade, Shandimac, ginger beer, lime soda, orange soda, and Maxi-Cola which came in reuseable glass bottles that could be returned for a discount on the next drink.
In 2002 there was a split between various members of the McMullen family some of whom wanted to turn their holdings into cash whilst others were happy to remain shareholders. Financial consultants were appointed and the company was put up for sale. The company was independently valued at £176m in 2002. A new independent chairman, Charles Brims, secured a compromise whereby several non-brewing property investments were sold in order to release cash to appease the majority shareholders and a plan was developed to build a new, smaller brewhouse. The company decided to shed contract brewing and take advantage of tax breaks by becoming a smaller brewer. As the new Whole Hop Brewery (opened 2006) was more compact than the 1984-built plant, the spare land was sold to Sainsbury's in 2007. This is the fifth McMullen brewery to operate on this site
McMullen's brews cask ale and pasteurised bottled beers. The company owns over 130 freehold pubs, mainly in the Home Counties, with a number in London, including The Spice of Life in Cambridge Circus, The White Swan in Pimlico and The Nag's Head in Covent Garden. McMullen's is acquisitive and has recently purchased pubs and bars in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Sevenoaks, Fleet, Marlow, Milton Keynes and Bishop's Stortford.
Due to the forced pub closures during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–21, Mac's began selling takeaway casks of beer directly from their brewery yard. The company has no debt.
From Wikipedia’s article on McMullen's Brewery, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4