Kimberley Brewery
Encyclopedia
The Kimberley Brewery was established and operated by the brewer Hardys & Hansons, and has a heritage dating from 1832. It was the oldest independent brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

 in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

.

Samuel Robinson opened the first commercial brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

 in Kimberley
Kimberley, Nottinghamshire
Kimberley is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, lying 6 miles northwest of Nottingham along the A610. The town grew as a centre for coal mining, brewing and hosiery manufacturing...

, Nottinghamshire, England in a rented bake-house using water from the Alley Spring in what is now called Hardy Street.

Stephen Hanson meanwhile built Hansons Limited on Brewery Street in 1847, also using water from the Alley Spring.

William & Thomas Hardy were successful beer merchants from Heanor who bought Samuel Robinsons brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

 in 1857. The current brewery is largely based on the buildings erected by them in 1861 when they moved out of the old bake-house.

Also in 1861, Stephen Hanson died and the business was carried on by his wife Mary and son Robert Hanson.

There was much friendly rivalry between the two brewing companies who proceeded to buy pubs throughout the area to supply with their own ales.

Both breweries began to run short of water. By agreement the water from the local Holly Well spring was shared between them. Having been attracted by the supply of excellent brewing water from the Holly Well, both breweries thrived independently until 1930, when under increasing pressure from larger brewing companies and lack of male successors to the Hardy's Brewery, the two companies combined.

In 2006, The Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery and all of its public houses were sold in a multi-million pound deal to Greene King brewery, who decided to end the brewing tradition in Kimberley in "a cost effective move" and will sell the Kimberley site, moving its distribution centre to Eastwood
Eastwood, Nottinghamshire
Eastwood is a former coal mining town in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire, England. With a population of over 18,000, it is northwest of Nottingham, and northeast of Derby, on the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Mentioned in Domesday Book, it expanded rapidly during the...

. Brewing will switch to the main Greene King site at Bury St Edmunds.
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