THIS week we’re looking back at the past and the fascinating history of the Eldridge Pope Brewery in Dorchester.

Now home to Brewery Square, the Eldridge Pope Brewery was one of the region’s most iconic buildings.

Situated at the gateway to the town centre, the history of the brewery has helped to define the market town.

Though there were other important breweries in business in Dorchester, including the Phoenix Brewery in High East Street, Eldridge Pope & Co.’s brewery was the most famous.

For more than 100 years it provided Dorchester with vast employment and a brilliant and bustling economy.

The origins of the working land can be traced back to Charles Eldridge’s investment in the small Green Dragon Brewery in 1831.

After his death, his wife Sarah formed a partnership with Samuel Mason who ran the brewery together until her son-in-law John Tizard inherited it after her death.

When Mason retired, a shrewd business move from new investor Edwin Pope guaranteed that upon John’s death merely a year later, the Popes would gain full control of the company.

The Popes proceeded to expand the business by building a larger brewery adjacent to the railway line to capitalise on the easy distribution of their beer around the whole country.

According to Tim Edgell and Mike Bone who have written a concise and interesting history on Dorset’s finest ales and ciders, Brewing in Dorset, expansion was rapid as Edwin ‘developed a range of beers to meet old and new tastes’.

The new brewery was designed by renowned architect W.R. Crickmay, Thomas Hardy’s mentor, who introduced the much admired red brick façade.

When the brewery opened its doors in 1881 it was already the town’s largest employer.

Tim and Mike said this ushered a period of great prosperity for the town, and the company acquired breweries in Cerne Abbas, Poole, Winchester, Twyford and Tisbury.

Throughout the 20th century the brewery grew from strength to strength, drawing on the traditions and values of the surrounding Dorset countryside as inspiration for the Eldridge Pope brand.

One of the pictures shows glass lined steel barrels used for maturing bottled beers being installed in the brewery. They were the largest diameter tanks of this construction ever installed in the country, and were too large to travel by rail.

But despite the prosperity, during the recession in the 1920s, profits fell and a fire destroyed the old brewery. Recovery needed to be swift and the brewery was rebuilt within just two years in 1925.

In 1978, a new ale was launched to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Thomas Hardy, which at 13 per cent made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the UK’s strongest commercially brewed beer.

Thomas Hardy’s ale proved a big success until the brewery hit financial difficulties and stopped producing the ale in 1999.

The brewery finally closed its doors in 2003 after selling the premises to a property company.

Through a £100million regeneration project, the brownfield site has been transformed into Brewery Square; a vibrant development with a variety of restaurants, shops and luxury apartment complex.

Now, the site is at the heart of many new family memories being made and moments being celebrated.

The original Grade II-listed buildings have been updated with contemporary interiors for homes, while retaining the impressive, red-brick design.

*Thanks to Tim Edgell and Mike Bone for a copy of the insightful Brewing in Dorset and Liz Lean PR for the photos of Dorchester Brewery’s Centenary in 1937.