CCSI Plastic Crowncap Database - Brewer/Bottler
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 Brewer/bottler #5745 | | | | | | | | | | | Extra info | The Phoenix Brewery, in Dolphin Lane, off Castle Street, is first recorded in 1740, when it was owned by a Mr Clements. In 1859 it was purchased by Mr Alfred Leney from the executors of Thomas Walker. Originally he ran it in conjunction with his uncle, James Evenden, trading as Leney and Evenden until his uncle’s death in 1868. Alfred married into another Kentish brewing family when he married Catherine, the eldest daughter of James Fremlin, of Wateringbury, near Maidstone.
In time Alfred was joined in the business by his three sons, Alfred Charles, Hugh and Frank. When Alfred (senior) died in 1900, 400 people filled St Andrew’s Church, Buckland and an estimated 1,000 thronged the churchyard for the burial. Among the 150 wreaths was one from the tenants of the brewery pubs in the form of a phoenix, which was used by the firm as a trade mark.
The business continued to flourish and in 1904 took over the rival firm of Flint & Co. of St Dunstan’s Brewery, Canterbury. It is thought that Leney & Co., after their absorption of Flint & Co., owned about 160 tied premises, mainly in East Kent and the Rye and Hastings area of East Sussex. In 1926 the firm of Alfred Leney & Co. amalgamated with Fremlin Brothers of Maidstone to form the public company known as Fremlins Ltd. The remaining brothers Fremlin retired and Alfred Charles Leney became the first Chairman of the new company.
Brewing at Dover ceased in 1927 but bottling of beer continued until 1950 at the Phoenix Brewery, the beer being transported from the Fremlins brewery at Maidstone. The only break in production came towards the end of World War Two, when a shell hit the water storage tank at the top of the building. Fortunately there were no casualties as the incident took place at night. It was claimed that the bottling plant was the nearest factory to enemy occupied Europe.
After bottling ceased the old brewery was used as a distribution depot by Fremlins until its demolition in 1963. The distribution depot moved to buildings that had once been part of the old Diamond Brewery on the Folkestone Road, which had been purchased by Leney & Co. in 1908. In the late 1960s Fremlins was itself taken over by the brewing giant Whitbread. |
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