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After the last week’s bad news, regarding the insolvency ofBy the Horns brewery, there’s more than a glimmer of good news on a different frontconcerning the re-opening of a recently closed brewery. It’s a story thatappears to have come out of nowhere and concerns the re-opening of the formerJenning’s Brewery at Cockermouth, Cumbria, in the heart of the English LakeDistrict. Jennings was a much-loved independent brewery, that slowly lost itsfreedom and its identity after a series of takeovers and mergers, so let’sfirst take a look at what happened in the run up to the closure of the brewery.Mick Knapton, CC BY-SA 3.0 Jennings Brewery was founded by John Jennings Sr. in 1828, inthe Cumbrian village of Lorton. His son was also involved in running thebrewery and the concern was later passed on to his three grandsons after thedeath of Jennings Sr. The business prospered and grew in size, eventually outgrowingthe Lorton brewery. With an eye to the future, Jennings moved to nearbyCockermouth in 1874, where there was more room for expansion. The breweryremains there today, at the foot of Cockermouth Castle, surrounded by the RiversDerwent and Cocker.
In 1887, the brewery went from being a family-owned businessto a public limited company, which enthusiastic locals were happy to buy sharesin. This ensured that when the last member of the Jennings family died, thecompany kept its local identity; a situation that lasted for the next 100years. Jennings won multiple awardsacross the years, with beers such as, Cumberland, Sneck Lifter plus Cocker Hoop,and in 1999 the latter brew received the ultimate accolade of Champion Beer of Britain Bitterat CAMRA’s Great British Beer festival.
Jennings brewed successfully as an independent company until2005 when the brewery and its pubs were purchased by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. In 2007, W&D changed their name to Marston's, after acquiringthe Burton-based company because the Marston’s name was much better known. In2009, Cockermouth suffered serious flooding which badly affected the brewery aswell. The floods had an enormous impact on the business, forcing Marston’s toimplement flood safety features and barricades throughout the site. Furtherchanges came for Jennings in 2020, when it became part of the Carlsberg group,following the merger of Carlsberg and Marston’s. This was closely followed bythe Covid pandemic, which sounded the death knell for brewing at Cockermouth.The brewery closed its doors for the last time in November 2022, bringing to anend 194 years of brewing in the town. And there the Jennings’s story might wellhave ended, were it not for a recent development.
Enter two local business owners, Kurt Canfield (CEO ofspecialist engineering business Delkia) and Rebecca Canfield (Proprietor ofwine and spirits company Wine and the Wood). The pair acquired the brewery foran undisclosed sum, at the start of February, and will take ownership of thebrewery site, with the intention to resume brewing Jennings beer once again, atCockermouth. The deal involves the transfer of all rights to the Jenningstrademarks, intellectual property and recipes. Bottled beer, bearing theJennings brand, will continue to be brewed by Carlsberg Britvic until March2025, following which beer production will transfer to Jennings Brewery Limited.
Rebecca Canfield, explained that she had long cherished theJennings Brewery site, adding that preserving the heritage of the brewery and themaltings, was of utmost importance to her and her partner. With almost 200years of brewing history at Cockermouth, the one element that really attracted thecouple to the project, was the fact it has its own well. Ms Canfield statedthat the pure, Lakeland water drawn direct from the castle well, was integralto the brewing of Jennings beer, and acted as the “secret ingredient” which givesthe beer its “distinctive Cumberland flavour.” Kurt Canfield stated that the project the pair had embarkedon, was an ambitious endeavour which will benefit the entire community. He addedthat there are plans to enhance the site while respecting the history and the heritageof both the brewery and the maltings. Unsurprisingly, given the time that bothbuildings have stood idle, certain critical repairs are necessary, and there ismuch to do to restore the Cockermouth brewery to its former glory. But with a small,but passionate team around them, focussed on bringing that heritage back tolife, the Canfields remain confident of bringing back the great beers thatJennings was once known for.
The new company, set up by the pair, is set to create sevennew jobs in the Cockermouth area, covering Head Brewer, the brewing team, plusthe sales and marketing departments. Chris France, the founder of specialtybeer retailer Beer Hawk, is joining as managing director of the new, Jennings BreweryLimited. David Bodily, head of properties and facilities at Carlsberg Britvic,said the Danish brewing giant was pleased to have closed the sale of the businessto two new local owners, who are looking to preserve the brewery’s heritage. He finished by saying, “Thebrewery occupies a unique location in Cockermouth, and we wish Kurt and Rebeccaevery success for the future."In the meantime, I’m sure there are lots of details still tobe sorted. For a start, is the brewing equipment still in place, as normally,following a closure, the “wreckers” will be sent in, to strip out everything ofvalue. Reading between the lines, we must assume that essential parts of the plantare still intact – mash tuns, coppers, fermenting vessels etc, plus ancillary itemssuch as refrigeration and cooling equipment.
We must also assume that the new owners have done their homework,diligently and methodically, otherwise they might have bought the proverbial, “pigin a poke.” Assuming then, that everything is as it should be, and that brewingcan recommence at Jennings, we must wish the new owners, every success withtheir new venture, and look forward to enjoying Jennings Lakeland Ales, on futurevisits to the Lake District.Final note, much of the information regarding this mostwelcome of developments, came from an article that appeared on the Food Manufacturewebsite, which you can read here. Also, there are few photos to illustrate thispost, primarily because I have none of my own. My last visit to the LakeDistrict was over 40 years ago, so there are certainly no electronic photographstaken by me. The ones that I did manage to find, are library ones, reproducedunder a “Creative Commons” licence.


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