On 12th August 2002, the Brewers History Society was invited to tour the Eldridge Pope Brewery in Dorchester. Public tours stopped several years ago, so this was a rare opportunity to see this magnificent and expansive brewery. The brewery itself is run by Thomas Hardy Brewers and contract brews for a number of commercial customers. Eldridge Pope, on the other hand, are purely a pub retailer, having ceased brewing their famous Dorchester Ales.

Here is a brief history of the company:-

In 1760, Emmanuel Bowen inscribed a note about Dorchester on his map of Dorset which said:-
"Dorchester is the chief town in the County, and of great antiquity, the Romans having had their station here, as appears by the great quantities of their coin which the people here call Kingdoms Pence. 'Tis also famous for a sort of cakes call'd Dorchester Cakes, and for brewing the best and finest beer in England whereof great quantities have been of late years exported and consigned to London."

The history of Eldridge Pope starts with an advertisement which appeared in the Dorset County Chronicle & Somerset Gazette on the 31" October 1833 when Charles Eldridge announced to the "Nobility, Gentry, Commercial Men and the Public in general" that he had just entered upon the Antelope Hotel, Dorchester.

He and his wife, Sarah (they had married in March 1829) ⁽³⁾, evidently prospered at the Antelope and must have lived up to the best traditions of Dorchester brewing, for in 1837, they expanded the Green Dragon Brewery. Prior to this, the Green Dragon had been run by Sarah and her first husband, John Balson, as a tavern that was leased by Sarah's parents. The Eldridge's continued vigorously to build up their enterprise until Charles' death in 1846, but Sarah Eldridge was obviously a force to be reckoned with for she continued it in partnership with a brewer named Alfred Samuel Mason under the style "Eldridge, Mason & Co".

In November 1856, Sarah died and thereupon Mason entered into partnership with a Weymouth solicitor, one John Tizard, who was Sarah's son-in-law. The business still traded under the name Eldridge, Mason & Co.

Legend has it that Alfred Mason had a son who, it is said, was killed as a result of an accident in the brewery. Legend also has it that he had struck up an acquaintance with a young solicitor, Alfred Pope, but leaving legend aside, Mr Mason definitely retired at the end of 1870 and he definitely sold his one third share to Alfred Pope's brother, Edwin Pope. It is also certain that Alfred took an active part in proceedings arranging, amongst other things, the finance with the bank which, correspondence shows, was a pretty dusty encounter! In any event, it was then that the name Eldridge, Pope & Company was born.

John Tizard was still the senior (if sleeping) partner of the business although Edwin brewed the beer and managed its affairs. The relationship, no doubt at Alfred's behest, was formalised by an agreement of February 1872. As events were to prove, it was as well that this occurred for amongst other terms, brother Alfred had written an option into the agreement under which Edwin was enabled to buy out John Tizard's share if he should die. Only a year later, Mr Tizard succumbed and within a month Edwin exercised his option only to find that because of a conflict between the agreement and Tizard's will, he was in dispute with the executors. The matter was eventually settled in Chancery when the Official Umpire found (in 1874) that the option was valid.

Now the brothers really set about developing the business. By the late 1870s, it was evident that the Green Dragon site had outgrown its usefulness. In 1879, they purchased the Prince of Wales estate from the Duchy of Cornwall, retaining a four-acre site next to the railway (which was to play a vital role in the pattern and expansion of the company's licensed estate) upon which they constructed in 1880 the brewery of today. Matters prospered and in 1897 they floated the present company. Two years later their brother, George Pope, who had an excellent business in Poole, joined them and the foundations of the modern company were well and truly laid.

To say that the building of 1880 is the brewery of today is not strictly accurate because a disastrous fire destroyed much of it in 1922. However the resurrected building was a faithful reproduction of the massive and imposing style of Victorian industrial architecture and is a classic of its type. Ironically, one excellent feature of the fire was that the brewery was modernised and much of that equipment is still in use today. The first brew with the new plant took place on 5th February 1925, thus restoring full working order.