Hendon Brewery

Hendon Brewery (originally Kingsbury and Hyde Brewery and not to be confused with the Darwin Brewery in Hendon, Sunderland) was started by James Robb for Mr William Field of Kingsbury House in Hendon, and seems originally to have been a domestic brewery for the house with Robb conducting a little business on the side by 1851. With the growth of the Welsh Harp as a place of entertainment, Robb expanded the business by engaging engineers to build a new brewery in The Hyde by 1855. Having dug a new well, the water, which was raised by two horses, was itself sold as a valuable source of revenue. The trade was slow, and Robb was only managing to sell one barrel a week in low season. With the fluctuations in demand Robb was unable to meet the repayments of his debt from the expansion, and had to sell the brewery (c1861). The next owner was Arthur Ocran Crooke, who reputedly purchased it for £140. Crooke was only in his early 20s but had come from a commercial brewing family, GW and FA Crooke of Guildford, and was able to manage the changes in supply and demand. With the construction of the railway a few years later he was able to supply the beer directly to Waring Bros and the hundreds of navvies engaged on the building of the line. From the money he made from this Mr Crooke bought up a number of inns in Hendon and Finchley, including the Surrey Arms (which he rebuilt). In 1872 a st

Brewery data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).