Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd Deep Round Tin

Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd tin tray dating from the 1980s.

Foundation of the Brewing Business

The business was established by John Harvey in Lewes in 1790.
By 1820 John started brewing as a seasonal sideline activity in Bear Yard, opposite the current brewery.
In 1838 he purchased the Bridge Wharf site consisting of a coal wharf, timber yard, and private dwellings, and erected a brewhouse there in 1839. The firm traded as Harvey & Son.
John's sons Henry, Edwin and William developed Harvey & Son at the Bridge Wharf site.
By 1859, Henry Harvey was brewing porters, stouts, and strong milds for the Company's seventeen public houses.
In the early 1860s John, and two of his sons Henry and Edwin, all died leaving William running the business. William was joined in the business by John Maxfield-Smith.
Wlliam also died unexpectedly in 1868.
Over the next sixty years the Company witnessed a gradual decline, and its only highlight was the rebuilding the Gothic Victorian Bridge Wharf Brewery in 1880.

The 20th Century to Date

By the 1920s, the Company was heavily mortgaged, and its few public houses were in a poor state of repair.
The Company was registered in 1928 as Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd, and by this time, three of John Maxfield-Smith's daughters were running Harvey's brewery. Alice May Harvey-Smith became the Company's first Chairperson in 1929.
Together with her sisters, they made two crucial appointments that ultimately led to Harvey's survival and long-term prosperity. A nephew of the family, Eric Rundle joined the business, as did a new young head brewer Anthony Jenner. These two individuals struck up a lasting business relationship, and over the next forty years, they took the firm out of debt, repaired the public houses, and brewed award-winning beers.
After WWII Rundle became Chairman and Jenner became Head Brewer, and Managing Director.
From the 1960s through to the 2000s, the brewery survived two floods and a fire.
The Bridge Wharf Brewery is still brewing, and is the oldest independent brewery in Sussex, run by seventh and eighth generations of the family.