EPW035168 ENGLAND (1931). Benskins Brewery and the town, Watford, 1931

As a major employer in Watford until the 1960s, Benskin's Brewery is worth inclusion in a group featuring Watford during the interwar years, 1919-1939.

In the eighty years since this image was taken, most (at least 75%) of the visible buildings have been swept away by the town's planners and developers, mostly since the 1960s and the introduction of Watford's new road system (to alleviate the former congestion on the High Street), in addition to modern retail parks. All very different from when this writer recalls the old town as a schoolboy in the 1950s.

This is arguably the clearest oblique shot of the famous old brewery taken in the early 1930s, when the Benskin's Brewery was one of the major employers in the Watford area. Beer has been brewed in the district for thousands of years, but only since the 19th century on a commercial scale.



The main brewery buildings were constructed behind (on the western side) of the 1775 mansion on the High Street, in 1812. The third John Dyson extended the works (Cannon Brewery), before selling out to Joseph Benskin in 1867, a retired London publican, and a local draper called Mr Bradley. At the turn of the century, the buildings were rebuilt on a larger scale and thus the familiar landmark of the south Watford townscape became evident for the next eight decades.



Benskin's ceased brewing in 1969 because of high costs and poor road access, though bottling carried on for a further three years. By 1972, Watford had lost its reputation as a brewing town, and became another example of a labour-intensive industry giving way to modern rationalisation.



The final buildings were demolished in 1983 and the site was used as the Watford Springs swimming complex, although a longer term plan is to develop the vacant space for a housing project. At least this writer was given the opportunity of visiting the plant sixty years ago, when Little Furze Junior School sent a party of older pupils on a tour of the grand complex. The original Georgian house on the High Street is now the highly-regarded Watford Museum, which this observer visited at length in 2003.

My dad Peter Tims worked here at Benskins Brewery briefly in the early 1950's