Reffells Bexley Brewery Ltd. (1898-1956)

Around the turn of the century many breweries needed to expand and re-equip with modern machinery in order to remain solvent. Accordingly the company was put on the share market and Reffell's Bexley Brewery Limited was registered on 3 December 1898 to acquire the business, the purchase price was £185,000. This gave a much needed boost to the finances, but unfortunately things did not go well for the limited company initially. Soon the direct family connection to the brewery had ended. In common with a number of breweries at that period, the new company met with difficulties and from October 1903 until August 1904 it was controlled by a receiver.

In August 1904 Yorkshire man Percy Hugh Waistell (pictured right) was appointed as Head Brewer and the brewery began the long road to recovery, but it was not until 1934 that a dividend was finally paid on the Ordinary Shares (surely a well-deserved reward for some very patient people!). In celebration of this achievement all staff were given an extra week's pay. At the time of the Kings Silver Jubilee, it was noted that four employees had attained 40 years employment, another four had done 25 years and three more had stayed for over 20 years. Despite having left the company for a period of six years early on, Percy Waistell was associated with the company right up until he died in April 1944. He was buried at St Mary Bexley, being transported there on a brewery lorry. His son John Kipling Waistell had been a director of the company since 1938 and then become Managing Director.

Further financial pressures grew after the Second World War and Reffells Bexley Brewery Ltd. was bought by Courage & Barclay in June 1956, along with the public houses that it then owned. It closed the following year and around 70 people were made redundant. Fortunately, the site has not been demolished and has been converted into a small industrial estate whose buildings still retain the old brewery names.

There is a separate mini-website for the Reffells Bexley Brewery Ltd.