You’ve Walked Past It a Hundred Times. You Probably Don’t Know It Once Supplied Queen Victoria
Most people see Brewery Square as somewhere to grab lunch or catch a film. But stop for a second next time you’re here and look up. Those red brick buildings have been home to royal wine orders, a famous novelist, a devastating fire and even a Dame of the stage.
Here’s the story of the Eldridge Pope brewery in Dorchester, and why this patch of town is far more interesting than it looks.
It started with a husband and wife in 1833
Charles and Sarah Eldridge set up the business in 1833 and built the Green Dragon Brewery in Dorchester four years later. Soon afterwards, John Allen Pope joined the partnership, and the Eldridge Pope name was born. Production moved to the Mariners Brewery on High West Street, which you can still spot today.
The move to Weymouth Avenue
In 1879, two of John Pope’s sons, Alfred and Edwin, opened the Dorchester Brewery right here on Weymouth Avenue. They picked the spot carefully. It had its own water supply and sat right beside the railway, so beer could travel along the south coast with ease.
It worked. By the end of the 1800s, the company owned 97 pubs stretching from London to Exeter.
Fit for a queen
Here’s the fact that surprises everyone. Eldridge Pope became wine supplier to Queen Victoria and was one of the first companies to be awarded a Royal Warrant.
The Thomas Hardy connection
Dorchester and Thomas Hardy go hand in hand, and the brewery is no exception. There’s a photograph of Alfred Pope with Hardy at the brewery in 1899. Two of the brewery’s best known ales were Royal Oak and Hardy’s Ale, the second named in honour of Dorset’s most famous writer.
The link goes deeper still. The grand Victorian and Edwardian buildings were designed by W.R. Crickmay, the architect Hardy worked for before he became a full time writer in 1872. Victorian drinks writer Alfred Barnard called the brewery “the finest specimen of architecture in the district”. Some of the more flamboyant details have led people to joke that the drawing board may have seen a pint or two.
Fire, cholera and Dame Judi Dench
In 1922, a fire destroyed much of the brewhouse. It was rebuilt and reopened just two years later, and that rebuilt brewhouse still stands today.
The brewery also played a part in Dorchester’s fight against cholera, with its huge coppers used to boil bedding and help stop the disease spreading. That story became a Dorchester community play, Entertaining Strangers, and Dame Judi Dench played none other than Sarah Eldridge.
From brewery to Brewery Square
The Pope family ran the business for generations. When Eldridge Pope sold the site in 2002, it was still managed by Christopher Pope, a great great grandson of John Pope.
Today the buildings are home to shops, restaurants, a cinema and homes. Look at the street names as you walk around: Eldridge Street, Pope Street, Copper Street and Dray Horse Yard all nod to the people and the trade that built this place.
Beer is still brewed here
The best part? The brewing never really stopped. Brewhouse & Kitchen brews its own beer on site, and Copper Street Brewery is a family-run brewery pouring pints right where they’re made. Raise a glass to Charles and Sarah while you’re at it.
