Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The former site of a brewery on Castle Street/Dolphin Lane, Dover, may have been originally founded about the year 1740. In 1859 it was purchased by Mr. Alfred Leney under whose ownership it became the Phoenix brewery. By 1900 The brewery had properties across Dover including the main brewery on Dolphin Passage which had a 120-foot-high chimney. The brewery is visible on historic OS maps dating to the end of the 19th and eary 20th centuries. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information

Monument Types

• BREWERY (BREWERY, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• MALTINGS (MALTINGS, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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The former site of a brewery on Castle Street/Dolphin Lane, Dover, may have been originally founded about the year 1740, the then owner appearing to be a Mr. Clements. It was bought by the Walker family in the early 19th century and traded as Thomas Walker & Sons and was one of the earliest brewers to incorporate steam into the brewing process. (1) In 1859 it was purchased by Mr. Alfred Leney, together with the thirty "tied houses" then attached to the concern, from the executors of Mr. Thomas Walker. The business was then for some time carried on under the style of Leney and Evenden, subsequently Mr. Leney was joined by his three sons, Mr. Alfred Charles Leney, Mr. Hugh Leney, and Mr. Frank Leney. (2)

By 1900 The brewery had properties across Dover including the main brewery on Dolphin Passage which had a 120-foot-high chimney (chimney erected in 1913) a malt house on Castle Street, a second adjoining the east end of the brewery, a third on the site formerly occupied by Poulter’s brewery in Russell Street, and the fourth occupied the area between St. James’ Place and the Gas Works yard. The offices for the brewery were located on the corner of Dolphin Lane and Castle Street and on the Castle Street side of the yard associated with the brewery was the cooperage, where there were men employed in repairing the casks. Across the lane from the cooperage was the stables which kept 12 horses employed in the vans in use in Dover. (3) The three storeys high building was completely gutted but the horses fortunately were led to safety and the stables were quickly restored. Overall the company occupied more than 5 acres of prime land in the town centre.

During the First World War shelters opened including some in the vaults of Leney’s Phoenix Brewery. Throughout the War notices on front line casualties were posted at the company’s brewery offices in Castle Street, as they had been during the Boer War (1899-1902). (4)

Leney’s merges with the Maidstone brewer Fremlins in 1926, the businesses already had a connection as, a number of years beforehand, Alfred Leney had married Catherine Fremlin, the eldest daughter of James Fremlin. Following the merger, brewing ceased at the Phoenix site in 1927 and the company started to trade under the Fremlins name, though bottling continued in Dover until 1950.

Leney’s bottling plant closed down in October 1952 and seven years later, in 1959, the old brewery’s chimney, near to Market Square, was demolished. The following February, after nearly fifty years of operation in Dover

Surviving former brewery buildings include the former offices on the corner of Castle Street and Dolphin Lane and one of the four Dover malthouses. The former ABC cinema on Castle Street, now demolished, was built on the site, as was the Bus Depot, now itself demolished. The rest of the area in which war damaged buildings were pulled down remained undeveloped. (5)

The brewery and associated works are visible on historic OS mpa dating to the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. (6-10)

<1> Johnny Homer, 2016, Brewing in Kent (Monograph). SKE32101.

<2> Barry Smith and Paul Skelton, 2017, Dover Kent Archives - Breweries- Leney's Brewery (Website). SKE32100.

<3> J. Rochard, 1900, Dover Illustrated (Monograph). SKE32103.

<4> Lorraine Sencicle, 2013, The Dover Historian - Castle Street and Russell Street (Website). SKE32099.

<5> Johnny Homer, 2016, Brewing in Kent (Monograph). SKE32101.

<6> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 1st edition 1862-1875): Landmark Epoch 1 (Map). SKE30964.

<7> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 2nd Edition, 1897-1900): Landmark Epoch 2 (Map). SKE30965.

<8> Landmark, 1907-1923, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 3rd Edition, 1907-1923): Landmark Epoch 3 (Map). SKE30966.

<9> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 4th Edition, 1929-1952): Landmark Epoch 4 (Map). SKE30967.

<10> C. E. Goad, 1905, Kent Fire insurance plans sheets 1-7 (Map). SKE51666.

Sources and further reading

Related records