Remembering the old Medway Brewery at the Cellars Alehouse

In the post before last, you left me, sitting in Maidstone’s Rifle Volunteers pub, contemplating a visit to another pub on my Pub Fridays list. The place in question was the Cellar's Alehouse, situated on the other side of the river Medway, opposite Maidstone West station. I’d been wanting to visit this establishment for some time, but its limited opening times, made this rather awkward. The pub is closed all day on Monday and doesn’t open 4pm on the other weekdays.

This meant the weekend the best time to visit, although Friday’s slightly extended 4pm was doable, and as I was already in town, it seemed daft to call in. A spot of research on my phone, regarding train and bus times home, revealed there was a bus departing from outside the station at quarter to five, so after a quick WhatsApp message to Mrs PBT's to confirm this, a quick visit to the Cellar’s was on the cards, but what to do in the meantime?

Despite the cold, I decided to take a nostalgic walk around Maidstone, taking in, amongst other things a look at my old house. This was a two-up, two-down, Victorian terrace house, in a residential street, quite close to the towns grim and imposing prison. Back in 1978, and in conjunction with previous Mrs Bailey, the property was purchased for the princely sum of £12,500, although it required an additional £3,000 for the addition of a proper kitchen and bathroom. I also took a look at some of the numerous former pubs, now converted for other uses, or demolished altogether.

By the time I arrived at the Cellar’s Alehouse, it was getting dark, but first a bit of history about the location of this micro-pub, and the building where it is housed. As its name suggests the Cellar's occupies a former cellar of the old Style & Winch Brewery, which was once used for the maturation and storage of barley wine. These old cellars, plus the handful of surrounding buildings above ground, are all that remain of the substantial Medway Brewery which stood overlooking the left (west) bank of the river Medway.

The Medway Brewery was one of the largest breweries in Kent, having been formed in 1899, by the amalgamation of Maidstone brewers A.F. Style & Co with Edward Winch & Sons Ltd of Chatham. All brewing was then concentrated at Maidstone, and the Chatham brewery was closed. Style & Winch Ltd then embarked on an acquisition strategy purchasing and closing eight Kentish and Greater London breweries by 1924. The growing success of the company meant it too became a target and in 1929, Style & Winch Ltd was acquired, along with its 600 public houses, by Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd of London.

In 1955, Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd merged with Courage & Co. to form Courage & Barclay Ltd, and five years later the new company combined with H. & G. Simonds Ltd, of Reading, to become Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co. Ltd. Brewing ceased at the Medway Brewery in 1965, although a bottling plant was operated at the site until the early 70’s. Sadly, the main brewery buildings were demolished in 1975 despite valiant efforts to save them.

I can just about remember the Medway Brewery, because in the summer of 1974 I was in Maidstone with Roy, a friend from our days together in the VIth form at Ashford Boys Grammar. We were both members of the still young Campaign for Real Ale and were in the county town looking for the real thing. Cask ale was readily available in Shepherd Neame pubs, and to a lesser extent, in Whitbread-Fremlin houses, although Courage was a different proposition altogether, with virtually all their Kentish pubs selling top-pressure or keg beer only.

Somehow my friend Roy had got wind that the Seven Greys, a traditional back street Courage pub, close to the river, as well as the Medway Brewery, was selling Courage beer on hand-pump. It was a fairly basic put, and I can still picture the two of us standing at the bar and enjoying a couple of pints of cask PBA - Pale Bitter Ale. The latter was a light mild, stocked in quite a few Courage pubs at the time, although normally served under top-pressure. We hadn’t been in the pub long, before the peace and quiet was shattered, by a group of, mainly female workers, from the old brewery opposite, who came storming in.

They were obviously on their lunch break, and many were still wearing their overalls.  The group were boisterous but good natured, and were probably as surprised to see us, as we were to see them. Roy and I were surprised in a different way, as we both thought the former Barclay Perkins plant had ceased brewing a long time ago. It actually had, and what we were witnessing was the brewery in its death throes, as the part of the plant was still being used for bottling. Not long afterwards, that activity was transferred to Courage’s depot at Parkwood, to the south of Maidstone.

It was some years before I returned to the county town – bearing in mind I was a student studying at Salford University, but when I did, I hardly recognised the town centre. The Medway Brewery had vanished (see earlier), along with the Seven Greys. A new bridge had been built across the Medway, and a gyratory traffic system was in place. The attractive and ornate, red-brick, late-Victorian, offices, of the former brewery stood for a number of years, opposite Maidstone West station, but they too have vanished, leaving just a small collection of buildings from the same era, overlooking a yard on the other side of the railway.

One of these is home to the Cellar's Alehouse, and to enter this attractive micro-pub one has to descend a series of steps at the side of the building. A flagstone floor, and a series of vaulted, brick ceilings await, with the latter being covered with numerous beer pump clips. The walls are adorned with various old brewery and pub signs. There are plenty of wooden chairs and tables, most of which are to the left of the serving area. Six cask and eight keg ales as well as a number of local and fruited ciders are all perfectly kept in a temperature-controlled cool room, behind the bar, although my arrival, right on the dot of opening time, meant I was the only customer.

Apart from the manager, I remained the sole punter for the duration of my visit, but as the former was busying himself, getting things ready for a presumably busy night ahead, I was left to sit and reflect, whilst enjoying my beers. These were, Inn Keeper, from Long Man Brewery, plus Volumes Milk Race, from Vocation Brewery. With a pint of the former, but only a half of the latter, I got my ratios the wrong way round, as whilst the former was described as a Winter Ale, it needed a lot more colour to be a true winter brew – in my opinion, at least. Vocation came up trumps, yet again with their offering which, as hinted at by the name, was a rather good milk stout.

All too soon it was time to make a move and head for the bus stop. I explained my abrupt departure to the manager, who replied, “There’s always another bus.” I told him that he didn’t know my wife, so after complimenting him on the excellence of his beer, and the appeal of his pub, I departed. The bus was late, of course, meaning I could have stayed for at least another half, but had I done so, it would have been early. So, a good ending to a rather chilly day out in Kent’s county town.

The back and white, aerial shot opposite, shows the Medway Brewery in its heyday, and illustrates the scale and impressive size of the former Style & Winch brewery. It is sad to think that apart from the small group of buildings, that house the Cellar's Alehouse, plus the neighbouring small businesses, not a stone or a brick of the former Style & Winch Brewery remains today. The photo, which is downloadable free for home, and personal blog use, is dated 1921 - a time when a lot more beer was being drunk, than is the case today.