About
Background
It has been reported that since the 1760s, there was a brewery located at 27 White’s Ground, Bermondsey in London. Day, Payne and Co bought the premises, along with 19 other licensed properties, in 1848, and in 1852 Day took on Wickham Noakes (see image, right) as business partner. From that point on, the business traded as Day, Noakes & Sons.[1]
In March 1897, and following Day’s death, the business was renamed Noakes & Co. In 1918, following it’s rebuilding at the end of the previous century, Black Eagle Brewery purchased Noakes & Co. Courage & Co Ltd purchased Noakes & Co, along with 280 other licensed premises, in 1930.[2]
Shortly after the acquisition, and despite having made plans for the production, distribution and management of the new premises, the industry, and Courage & Co Ltd, were hit hard by Philip Snowden’s 1931 Emergency Budget and at this point, the production and distribution of Noakes was ceased.[3]
It has been reported that since the 1760s, there was a brewery located at 27 White’s Ground, Bermondsey in London. Day, Payne and Co bought the premises, along with 19 other licensed properties, in 1848, and in 1852 Day took on Wickham Noakes (see image, below) as business partner. From that point on, the business traded as Day, Noakes & Sons.[1]
In March 1897, and following Day’s death, the business was renamed Noakes & Co. In 1918, following it’s rebuilding at the end of the previous century, Black Eagle Brewery purchased Noakes & Co. Courage & Co Ltd purchased Noakes & Co, along with 280 other licensed premises, in 1930.[2]
Shortly after the acquisition, and despite having made plans for the production, distribution and management of the new premises, the industry, and Courage & Co Ltd, were hit hard by Philip Snowden’s 1931 Emergency Budget and at this point, the production and distribution of Noakes was ceased.[3]
Revival of Noakes & Co Ltd
During the first of the COVID-19 lockdowns, one of Wickham Noakes’ great, great, grandchildren was carrying out some research into family history and stumbled across the story of Noakes and Co Ltd. Along with his siblings, the idea to bring back to life Noakes Ale was born. Towards the end of 2021, a trial brew was carried out, resulting in a very successful brew of an Old Pale Ale.
In 2022 further test brews were carried out in partnership with the Hairy Dog Brewery in West Sussex, and at the end of the year we decided to embark on our first commercial brew of an IPA called Noakes & Co, Middle Stump*, Heritage Pale Ale.
The first commercial brew went on sale in selected outlets and direct to consumers from the spring of 2023.
The Middle Stump reference is a nod to our cricket mad eldest sibling, Mark Richardson, who sadly passed away aged 56 at the end of 2022 after a 5 year battle with cancer. At his funeral, one of his cricket friends was speaking and referred to Mark’s ‘middle stump’ as having been finally being knocked down.
History
Please see below a collection of articles, documents, images and other references that relate to the history and past of Noakes and Co Ltd. If you have something of note or some information to share about Noakes, please do get in touch with us.
List of old Noakes & Co pubs
Some reading of the Noakes & Co listing on breweryhistory.com takes you to a list of Noakes & Co pubs. The vast majority of these
Test brew of Noakes OPA
Before Christmas 2021, we were able to brew a sample batch of the Noakes & Co OPA. This batch was brewed following the original
Noakes Original Sign
A reverse image search for part of the Noakes & Co logo comes up with this website showing a replica Noakes & Co miniature sign.
