Charles Wells Ltd tin tray dating from the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Charles Wells Buys the Eagle Brewery<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The original Eagle Brewery was was built on Horne Lane in Bedford around 1818. 67 Years of Brewing – 1910 to 1974 Charles Wells died in 1914, and Charles Ernest Wells became the firm’s Chairman. The Modern Era The manufacturer’s mark states – Salesprint & Display Limited. Burton Upon Trent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Charles Wells Ltd tin tray dating from the 1970s.
\nCharles Wells, a retired navy man, purchased a coal wharf, a malt house, and the Eagle Brewery, with 35 public houses, at an auction in 1875.
\nBy 1890 the Company was trading well and its estate totalled 80 tied pubs.
\nThe firm’s ‘Starfish’ trade mark was registered in 1896.
\nRealising that water was an essential part of the brewing process, Charles Wells sank his own well at Park Road North, to tap an underground reservoir of water purified through layers of chalk and limestone. The well still exists today.
\nIn 1904 Charles’s four eldest sons became partners in the business.
\nThe Company was registered as Charles Wells Ltd in 1910.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe Wells family continued to trade successfully, if not spectacularly, for almost 60 years, serving a mainly local area.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/em>
\nDue to increased demand fot its beers, and having signed a deal with Desnoes and Geddes, which brewed Red Stripe lager, the decision was made to move its brewing operations.
\nA new Eagle Brewery was built on Havelock Street. which started in 1974 and became fully operational\u00a0 in 1976, to replace the original outdated premises.
\nThe new site included the most modern brewing equipment. and a state-of-the-art bottling plant.
\nThe Horne Lane site was sold to the Bedford Corporation.
\nIn 2006 Charles Wells Ltd announced a new joint venture with Young & Co’s Brewery Ltd, becoming Wells & Young’s Ltd.
\nCharles Wells owned a 60% stake. and Young & Co’s Brewery Ltd owned 40%.
\nAt the same time, the Charles Wells Pub Company was formed as a separate business in order to manage its combined estate of over 200 public houses.
\nThe Company expanded its range of beers when it acquired the Courage brands from Scottish & Newcastle in 2007, and McEwans & Youngers brands in 2011.
\nCharles Wells purchased Young’s 40% stake and became sole owners of the business in 2011.
\nIn 2015 the Company reunited the different arms of the business becoming Charles Wells Ltd once again.
\nIn 2017 Marstons PLC purchased the brewing business together with the rights to its Bombadier, McEwans and Youngers beers.
\nCharles Wells Ltd retained its pub estate.
\nA new business, Wells & Co., opened a new ‘Brewpoint’ brewery at Fairhill near Bedford in 2020 to supply its 200 pubs with a wide range of its own ales. The site also includes a ‘nano’ brewery for experimentation. The Company also directly owns and manages 13 pubs in France, trading under the name of the John Bull Pub Company.
\nFollowing Marstons PLC merger with Carlsberg, the Eagle Brewery was sold to the Spanish company S.A.Damm.<\/p>\n
\nThe Eagle Brewery is now owned by Marston’s Beer Company Ltd and is based in Bedford, Bedfordshire. The Eagle Brewery is still operating under Marston’s ownership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[380],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4055","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-england-1970s","8":"first","9":"outofstock","10":"shipping-taxable","11":"purchasable","12":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/4055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=4055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}