Site of early 20th century brewery, Tidings Hill Brewery, Brewery Drive (EHER 15124)

The brewery was founded in 1885 by George Cook, who had a new brewery built in 1908. He was succeeded by George E. Cook in 1910. The company G.E. Cook and Sons was created in 1930 and registered as G.E. Cook and Sons Limited in 1961. The brewery closed in 1974. The brewery comprised two main ranges with a water tank which spanned the access between the two, offices and associated cottages. In 2003 the brewery was demolished and Brewery Drive, a residential development of 35 houses, constructed.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: The brewery was founded in 1885 by George Cook, who had a new brewery built in 1908. He was succeeded by George E. Cook in 1910. The company G.E. Cook and Sons was created in 1930 and registered as G.E. Cook and Sons Limited in 1961. The brewery closed in 1974. The brewery comprised two main ranges with a water tank which spanned the access between the two, offices and associated cottages. In 2003 the brewery was demolished and Brewery Drive, a residential development of 35 houses, constructed. <1> - <3> Small brick-built brewery, part dating from early in this century, but largely rebuilt in 1936 when extra conditioning tanks were added and a borehole sunk. <4> 2002. Survey. George Ernest Cook was the son of George Cook who had been a brewer in Halstead and Bocking since 1870 and in 1895 G.E. Cook began his own business in an off-licence on Tidings Hill selling beer brewed by his father in Parsonage Lane, Halstead. He began brewing in 1908 in the brewery built to the side and rear of the off-licence in Tidings Hill. George Ernest died in 1934 and his four eldest sons continued the business after his death. In fact it remained in the family as G.E. Cook and Sons until brewing ceased in 1974 and then becoming wine and spirit merchants. The site is a complex of structures of the former brewery, although some features such as the 75 foot chimney have been demolished. The original off-licence building is extant as are adjacent cottages and two main brewery buildings with a water tank built between the two over the yard entrance. Principally of pale red brick under slate roofs the buildings have such features as semi-circular arched, metal windows, a louvred wooden ridge vent and various taking-in doors. <5> See: <6>