Portsmouth's Recent Breweries

Portsmouth has a long brewing history and has been home to a number of sizeable brewing operations over the years. Sadly, the city's last substantial brewhouse, the former Brickwoods site on Queen Street, Portsea, was closed by Whitbread in 1981, though Portsea Island has seen a number of microbreweries come and go in the intervening years. At the time of writing (August 2007) Portsmouth is due to once again become a brewing city, albeit on a modest scale.

This page provides some information regarding the breweries that have operated in Portsmouth over the last forty years.

Irving & Co Brewers	Unit G1 Railway Triangle, Walton Road, Farlington
This new venture is the brainchild of former Gale's employee and jovial Scotsman Malcolm Irving. After many months attempting to secure a suitable site for the brewery, a small unit on Farlington's Railway Triangle Industrial Estate was found in the autumn of 2007 and Irving beers appeared on the bars of pubs in the local area in early December of that year. The first beer to leave the brewery was Red Plum, a limited edition 5% Christmas Ale, followed soon after by regular brews Invincible and Frigate. A third ale by the name of Type 42 was launched in July 2008. By January, Irving beers had been sold to pubs in five counties and a growing number of houses in the Portsmouth area stock the ales regularly (see below for details). Initial sales have proved very promising and by April 2008 the company was already breaking even.
SELECTED BEERS: Frigate 3.8% Invincible 4.6% Type 42 4.2%	Red Plum 5.0% (Christmas 2007 special) Pompey Glory 5.0% (FA Cup Final 2008 special) Thai Me Up 3.8% Captain Buggernuts 5.3% (Pompey Beer Festival 2008 special)
Irving & Co beers can regularly be found at the following pubs in the City of Portsmouth: Dolphin, High Street; Leopold Tavern, Albert Road; Eastfield Hotel, Prince Albert Road; George Inn, Portsdown Hill Road; Churchillian, Widley Walk; Thatcher's Bar, London Road; Fountain Inn, London Road; Rose In June, Milton Road; Eldon Arms, Eldon Street; Hole In The Wall, Great Southsea Street; Barley Mow, Castle Road; Old Vic, St Paul's Road; Cellars At Eastney, Cromwell Road; Invincible, Wickham Street. New accounts are being sought regularly.

Buckland Brewery (closed)	The Winchester Arms, Winchester Street, Buckland
Inaugruated in 1999 by local drinks entreprenuer Geoff Hartridge, this tiny brewery was housed in the newly-refurbished Winchester Arms, in Buckland's terraced backstreets. Formerly a run down local, the first class conversion of the pub breathed new life into the property and proved an instant success. The beers were devised and produced by the former brewer at the Fuzz & Firkin in Southsea, but unfortunately the brewing operation lasted little more than a year. The pub now serves as an outlet for Gosport's Oakleaf brewery. The brewplant was sold to Cole's Brewery in Carmarthanshire.
SELECTED BEERS: Best Bitter 3.8% Invincible Stout 4.5% Old Anvil 3.4% Old Chapel Bitter 4.1%	True Blue 5.4% Freckled Ale 4.5% Stoker's Stout 5.0% Coriander 4.0%

Packhorse Brewery (closed)	Somers Road, Southsea
Opened in Portsmouth in 1998, at the rear of the Grantham Arms pub, this company was born out of the former Packhorse Brewery from Ashford, Kent. The brewing kit was obtained from the defunct Flamingo & Firkin brewpub in Kingston-upon-Thames and produced a small number of regular ales as well as a high gravity winter beer. In 2003 the brewer retired and the company was forced to close.
SELECTED BEERS: Southern Star 3.5% Best Bitter 3.8%	Donkey's Nob 3.5% Old Pompey 4.8% Rudolph's Revenge 7.9%

The Fuzz & Firkin (closed)	Albert Road, Southsea
Part of the once prolific Firkin chain of brewpubs. This operation set up shop in the former Southsea Police Station in 1996. Unlike the majority of Firkin breweries, the brewer at this pub produced a large amount of high quality seasonal beers and one-off specials, served with no blanket pressure (unlike the method used across most of the company's estate). A number of awards were forthcoming and when the parent company sold the chain and the brewery was closed, the brewer took his skills to the Buckland Brewery nearby (see above).
SELECTED BEERS: Truncheon Stout 3.5% Bobbie's Best 3.8% Wild Oats 3.9% Coriander Ale 4.2% Mad Ed's Orange Sinner Man 4.3% Sea Mist Stout 4.5% Brown Ale 4.6%	Aussie Ale 5.0% Boudicea Brew 5.0% Cuffed Ale 5.0% Jolly Roger 5.0% Vanilla Ice Cream Beer 5.0% Bailed Ale 5.6% Inspector's IPA 6.0% Marco's Wicked Winter Willy Wilter 8.4%

Spikes Brewery (closed)	The Wine Vaults, Albert Road, Southsea
A four-barrel brew plant set up by local entrepreneur Mike Hughes within the Wine Vaults ale emporium in 1994. The brew line was scaled back to a two-and-a-half-barrel plant in 1996 and brewing ceased by 1999, despite plans to produce bottled ales for the export market. Beers were mainly sold at the Wine Vaults.
SELECTED BEERS: Impaled Ale 3.6% Best Bitter 4.0%	Bitter 'n' Twisted 4.8% Golden 5.2%

Winfield's Brewery (closed)	The Raven, Middle Street, Southsea
This short-lived operation was set up at much expense by publican Tony Winfield in the back yard of his free house, The Raven in late 1995. Various brews were produced by the plant, which were only sold at the pub itself. Winfield had a perculiar policy of chosing not to promote his ales to anyone other than his regular customers - even posting a chalk board at the pub entrance claiming "CAMRA members - no real ale". This selective form of doing business invariably meant that brewing became sporadic as, presumably, not enough ale could not be sold to his predominantly lager-drinking regulars (the pub served no other cask ale). Brewing has long since ceased.
SELECTED BEERS: Winfield's Bitter 3.7-3.9% Stout 3.8%	Winter Mild 3.9% Best Bitter 4.0%

The Southsea Brewery (closed)	Pitcroft Lane, North End
Housed in the former Lion Brewery buildings behind the newly-opened Brewery Tap pub on London Road, North End, this small company became operational in 1982 and brewed a small portfolio of four ales. Sadly by 1985 owner and brewer Paul Edeson ceased brewing and now operates a Working Men's Club in Leicestershire. The Brewery Tap was renamed simply The Tap and began stocking interesting ales from the Uley, Ringwood and Glenny breweries, amongst others.
SELECTED BEERS: Bosun's Porter 3.2% Captain's Bitter 3.8%	Admiral's Ale 4.8% Sealord Old Ale 5.8%

Brickwoods Brewery (closed)

Queen Street, Portsea

Portsmouth's most celebrated and well-known former brewery, Brickwoods, is a name that is familiar far beyond its former trading area. With its origins in London, members of the Brickwood family from Surrey began brewing in Portsmouth around the mid 19th century and soon established themselves as one of the largest local brewers and pub owners. In 1953 their presence became dominant with the purchase of their largest rival, Portsmouth United Breweries and the company's estate swelled to well over 800 pubs throughout Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight. In 1971 Brickwoods sold up to national brewer Whitbread and a subsidiary company Whitbread Wessex was born. Brewing continued on Queen Street until 1983, at which time Whitbread pulled the plug and the brewery ceased production, with brands transferred to other Whitbread sites, such as Cheltenham (now also closed). Readers can find plenty of examples of Brickwood pub liveries elsewhere on these pages.