Eldridge, Pope & Co. Ltd

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The brewery
The brewery
Eldridge Pope.jpg
The remains of Eldridge Pope's original brewery in Ackland Road
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Eldridge 22.jpg
Eldridge 23.jpg
Eldridge 24.jpg
Courtesy Roy Denison

Eldridge, Pope & Co Ltd, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester, Dorset.

Founded in 1837 when Charles Eldridge leased the Green Dragon Brewery in Dorchester. The Eldridge family also operated the Pale Ale Brewery in Dorchester from 1854.

The new Dorchester Brewery opened in 1880, and the two earlier breweries were closed. Registered May 1897 with 74 public houses.

The pub estate was separated from brewing in 1996 and retained by the Pope family. A management buy-out of the brewery was followed by a merger in 1998 with Burtonwood Brewery Co.(Forshaws) Ltd; trading as Thomas Hardy Burtonwood. The Eldridge Pope brands were not supported by the pub company. The brewery closed in 2003 with all production, mainly contract brewing, transferred to Burtonwood. The Dorchester brewery is still standing but has been developed for residential use.

The pub estate was sold to Michael Cannon in 2004, who then sold it to Marstons in 2006.


The brewery features in The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland by Alfred Barnard published 1890.


At one point both Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd and Eldridge, Pope "shared" a common Trade Mark


The redevelopment of the brewery in 1923. Courtesy Alex Mettler

The gentlemen in the photograph is Alfred Richards, brewer, the grandson of John Richards who founded the Brook Street Brewery in Tavistock in 1851, see Johnstone & Johnstone. After a short, early dabble as a bank clerk in Kingsbridge in 1891 Alfred John Richards was a brewery worker in Stratford-on-Avon in 1901, possibly with Flower & Sons Ltd which was training brewery workers around this period, followed by a career with Eldridge Pope. Alfred died in Alverstoke Registration District (Gosport area) in January 1954.


An assortment of views of the brewery


The brewery in 1990


The following images were taken on a BHS Visit in 2002. Courtesy Jeff Sechiari


The BHS explored the site in October 2021


Dorchester South Railway Station, built 1986


Beer mats and labels


Entry in the Trade Mark Registry

Registration No  : 25,219
Description  : Monogram "EP" on shield & facsimile signature
Date of Application  : 17/11/1880
Used Prior to 1875?  : 6 years


Registration No  : 525,860
Description  : Dorset Brown Ale Label
Date of Application  : 22/09/1931
Used Prior to 1875?  : NO