Reports - Brewery
Tolly Cobbold - Cliff Brewery
Where? Ipswich, Suffolk. Photos 67. Comments 9. Posted 4 February 2007.
Thomas Cobbold opened his first brewery in Harwich in 1723. The water there was rather salty, which didn't make for a good ale. So he shipped it in from Ipswich - just up ther river. In 1746 he left Harwich and built a brewery in Ipswich.
In 1894 he (well, his descendants) rebuilt the brewery to meet increased demands - there were over 300 public houses in Ipswich at the time.
After a few name changes/mergers, it closed in 1989, only to re-open in 1990 after a successful management buyout. The brewery started brewing again, and in 1996 celebrated it's 250th anniversary - quite an acheivement! After the buyout, it was also opened up as a working museum to try and improve it's profitability. In 2002 it finally closed (again) and the wonderful machinery inside has succumbed to pigeon droppings 
There are rumours of re-opening it though...
Tolly Cobbold - Cliff Brewery revisited
Where? Ipswich, Suffolk. Photos 22. Comments 5. Posted 25 February 2007.
Last time I visited I found a little book about the place as we were leaving. Upon reading it, there were I saw pictures of a huge steam engine used to pump water. So a return visit was in order just to see it. I also wanted to take some better pics in the blue fermentation room.
Read full Tolly Cobbold - Cliff Brewery revisited article here
