The History
of The King Family Brewing In Horsham
The origins of the King
family brewing in Horsham date back to 1850 when James King my
great-great-grandfather came to Horsham and started trading as a Maltster in
the Bishopric. Years passed and close-trading relationships with the brewers in
the town at the time resulted in an amalgamation with Satchell's brewery that
had premises in North Parade, Horsham. Soon James King acquired a controlling
interest in this brewing business and from that point on the destiny of the
King family as brewers was set.
The business became known as 'King and
Son' and then soon after 'King and Sons'. James King's sons, Charles, Frederick
and John took over the brewing business in 1893 and they formed a limited
company called 'King and Sons Limited'. The brewing business prospered and
gradually Public Houses were purchased in Horsham and the surrounding area so
long as they were deliverable by horse and cart. By the time of the merger with
the 'Barnes' brewery in 1906, wines and spirits were being traded also. The
King family and the Barnes family merged their businesses in 1906 with the
closure of the Barnes brewery in East Street, Horsham with all the brewing
being conducted in the Bishopric, Horsham. The combined estate of Public houses
totalled 60 and thereafter the company was known as 'King and Barnes Limited'.
The two families continued to run the business together until the early
1960's when the last Barnes family members died. From this point my Grandfather
took over as Chairman and subsequently my Uncle, Father and Cousin ran the
business until my cousins untimely death in 1994. I took over as the last King
family member to run 'King and Barnes Ltd' having first trained and qualified
as a Master Brewer. Over time until 1999/2000 when the company was taken over,
the brewery had run very successfully and had built an enviable reputation not
only for its beers but also for the quality of its pubs.
During the
remaining months of the Year 2000 after the take over of 'King and Barnes Ltd',
Kathy (my wife) and I began to plan the return of the King Family brewing in
Horsham. Contractual reasons prevented me from being involved in any Brewing
business until May 2001 but time was spent deciding on how best to create a new
brewery and to plan the beers we would be producing. We decided to concentrate
on quality Cask Ale production. As it would only be possible to sell to "Free
Trade" accounts, we decided to invest in a fairly small production facility and
housed it in leased industrial premises in Horsham. In fact the brewery we
installed was an ex "Firkin" brew pub plant and had a capacity of 20 Barrels
(20 x 36 gals) and thus 'W J King & Co (Brewers)' was born.
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Very quickly we extended this capacity
to 30 Barrels. In the eight years since we have been brewing and operating our
own brewery, we have extended capacity regularly and now find ourselves with a
brewery capable of producing 50 Barrels per week. All our beers are hand
crafted by the King & Co team and produced in our own brewery in Horsham.
We also produce a variety of bottle-conditioned ales.
We are proud to
continue my family's tradition of brewing quality ales in Horsham and we are
very grateful for the support and encouragement our customers have given us
since we launched the brewing business in May 2001. Bill
King
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