THE WORLD’S OLDEST BREWERY SHARE

Mario Boone

(who always fancies a dark beer)

The London Genuine Beer Brewery (also known as the Golden Lane Brewery of Barbican) was founded in 1804 by William Brown and Joseph Parry when they took over the existing Combrune's Brewhouse. The latter was a small brewery, with a history going back to at least 1792. In the year 1800, the Combrune family business produced 18,000 barrels of ale. This was only a small part of the total production of all 127 London common brewers: 17,780,000 barrels (of which 75% was strong beer and 25% weak beer).

When Brown & Parry took over the Combrune's Brewhouse, they did so with great ambition. They wished to attack the London porter brewers who were selling (often adulterated) beer at fixed, and continuously rising, oligopolistic prices. Right from the start, Brown & Parry promised to sell their beer at discounted prices to the pubs and to guarantee its quality by using only malt and hops.

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