Wimbledon Brewery

Heritage Wimbledon has a long and illustrious brewing history. The new brewery is based on the site of Merton Priory which was brewing throughout the Middle Ages until its dissolution in 1538. One William Watney ran the Wheatsheaf Brewery in the Crooked Billet area of Wimbledon in the 18th century. His direct descendants went on to establish the famous Watney brewing empire. The Wimbledon Brewery was started by William Cook in 1832. It stood in Wimbledon High Street where the old fire station is today. Next door was the Brewery Tap beer house, also run by William Cook. At that time there were 115 breweries in the London excise district. Following a number of changes of ownership, the brewery was taken over by William Quartermaine in 1880. It was Quartermaine who built the five-storey tower brewery, the highest building in Wimbledon at the time. The brewery was described as: “Having a modern plant on the Tower Principle, with brewer’s office, malt and hops lofts, boiler house and tun rooms, counting house etc, together with well-established tap and shop.”