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The Bull at Bell Street
Oxfordshire
Brakspear Pubs
Brakspear has been running pubs for over 200 years and is passionate about great pubs. Today the pub is still a great place to relax with family and friends and enjoy some great food and drink. Step inside a Brakspear pub and you’ll be welcomed by our friendly staff. Over 80 of our 132 pubs can be found within 10 miles of the River Thames. Be sure to visit Henley on Thames, where our first brewery was located and today is home to our microbrewery. Follow The Brakspear Henley Ale Trail.
DOWNLOAD FOR FREE - OVER 200 CIRCULAR PUB WALKS
The mobile app includes over 200 circular pub walks that shows your position as you walk to guide you on your way and get you back to the pub again. As well as walks it also shows all of the beautiful Brakspear pubs so you can find your nearest one when you’re visiting somewhere new. Download the Brakspear app now on the iTunes or Google Play app store.
For those without a Smartphone, there are 30 leaflets you can print from home.
Check out the A-Z here of all the pubs listed on Visit Thames
Looking to stay in a pub – take a look at Brakspear’s pubs with accommodation.
HISTORY OF BRAKSPEAR
1711 – The Start of Brakspear
In 1711 William Henry Brakspear decided beer was the future and bought a brewery on Bell Street, Henley on Thames. In 1769, nineteen year old Robert Brakspear, became the pub landlord of the Cross Keys, Witney and it’s from here Brakspear Bitter was born and started being brewed before moving to the Henley Brewery. In 1812 the brewery moved round the corner from Bell Street to New Street in Henley and had 34 pub leases and Robert’s second son, William Henry, joined the business. William worked tirelessely to expand the company acquiring more beerhouses and malthouses before passing away in in 1882. He was mayor of Henley four times, a justice of the peace and an alderman. In 1896 Brakspear’s bought out their main local rival, the Grey’s Brewery.
John Chalcraft joined the company in 1914, becoming head brewer, then managing director in 1928 for a staggering 41 years until 1969 and later the first company chairman who was not a member of the family. John’s son Michael was a keen brewer and joined the board in 1963 where he remained until 1996. In this time, many pubs were bought that still make up the Brakspear pub estate today. By 1979 Brakspear had 130 pubs but with rationalisation, 20 years later the pub estate was just over 100. A new distribution yard was opened in 1986, but otherwise there was little change with the brewery until production ceased in 2002.
The future
In 1994 another pub company J.T. Davies began acquiring a stake in W.H. Brakspear. In 2002, Brakspear moved away from direct brewing and Marstons took the reins at their Wychwood Brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire, right around the corner from where Brakspear bitter began at the Cross Keys. In 2007, J.T. Davies acquired W.H. Brakspear and turned it back into a private company, with 150 tenanted and leased pubs. The pub company side of Brakspear’s head office moved to Bell Street, still in Henley on Thames, and the same street where the Brakspear brewery originally was. J.T. Davies has re-branded their 50 pubs as Brakspear.
J.T. Davies began in 1875 when John Thomas Davies built his first pub and his family went on to establish a chain of off-licences and wine merchants alongside the chain of managed pubs and then tenanted pubs. In 1996 the off-licences were sold to Unwins. With the merger of the two companies in 2007, Tom, the fifth generation of the Davies family joined the business as Commercial Director and today is the Chief Executive of Brakspear, with his father (who joined in 1973) as the Chairman
In 2013, Brakspear opened its first managed pub, the Bull on Bell Street in Henley on Thames. At the same time the Bell Street Brewery opened too; Brakspear were brewing back in Henley again, although on a smaller scale as a microbrewery. Brakspear now have seven managed houses with more planned but the tenanted and leased pubs with always remain at the hub of the business.
Did you know?
On the 3rd December 1154, Nicholas Breakspear, a distant relative of the Brakspear family, was the only Englishman to ever be elected as pope and was known as Pope Adrian IV. His papal seal contained the image of a bee, and so that’s where Brakspear’s bee logo comes from.
Guardian Top 10 Pubs with a View includes:
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The Angel on the Bridge, Henley-on-Thames
‘For those who prefer their views more landscaped than wild, this pub is next to Henley’s elegant Georgian bridge, at the point where Oxfordshire meets Berkshire… The Angel ought to be a snooty tourist trap but remains a proper pub, with proper ale – Brakspear is a true Oxfordshire classic.’ See more at The Guardian
The Henley Brewing Heritage Tour
A new walking tour of Henley launches later this month, highlighting the town’s rich brewing heritage. The 75-minute tour, led by a Blue Badge guide, takes walkers to key brewing .jpg)
sites and iconic pubs and is supported by local brewer and pub operator Brakspear. The Henley Brewing Heritage Tour will run on the last Sunday of every month, starting on 27th January at 11.00 am. It begins at the Hotel du Vin, site of the Brakspear brewery for nearly two centuries until it closed in 2002. A complimentary pint of Bell Street-brewed ale is being offered to walkers for a limited time, served in the Bull or the Angel on the Bridge.
The tour costs £10 per person, including a pint of Brakspear ale for a limited time. Places must be booked in advance by calling 07770 933117.
