Greene King Brewery

This is one of England´s oldest and largest traditional working breweries. Here, you can join one of the daily Brewery Tours to see the beers actually being made using natural ingredients and traditional brewing methods.

A tour round the historic working brew house includes a wonderful view of the historic town and Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds from the brewery roof. Starting from the Museum, you tour the Brewery before tasting the different beers at the Brewery Tap. After your tasting, you can return to the well-stocked shop to purchase gifts, souvenirs and cases of beer, including the prized Abbot Ale, to delight your friends!

Brewing in Bury has an exceptionally long history. Brewing on a scale catering for the needs of large organisations and public houses dates at least from the Middle Ages; when the monks of the Abbey of St. Edmund established their own brewery within the monastic precinct. The Greene King´s Westgate Brewery, now the largest regional brewery in Britain, continues this tradition. It was established during the golden age of brewing, the period from the 1820´s to 1917. The Westgate Brewery dates from 1868. That year Frederick William King constructed the first buildings on the site, which he called the St Edmund´s Brewery. The business was re-formed as Greene King and Sons Limited in 1887.

 

A typical ´common brewer´, Greene King sold beer direct to publicans. Large industrial conurbations developed during the early nineteenth century and here beer consumption reached high levels. The demand was met by the common brewers who benefited from economies of scale. Public houses or ´pubs´ became tied to breweries enabling them to more readily meet demand. Greene King´s tied public houses remain a common sight in the region to this day carrying a distinctive brand - an image of the Abbot of St Edmundsbury.

Greene King Brewery
Greene King Westgate Brewery
IP33 1QT Bury St. Edmunds
Suffolk
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 1284 - 714382
Homepage