Brakspear /

WH Brakspear & Sons Ltd is the name of a brand of English beers and pubs, based in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. While the beer brewing and pub management sides of the business were originally unified, the brewing has since been sold to Wychwood Brewery owners Refresh UK. The Brakspear brewery dated back to 1711, when W.H. Brakspear bought a brewery on Bell Street, Henley. The Brakspear family was distantly related to Nicholas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV in 1154 — the only Englishman to become Pope. In 1812, the brewery moved to the Thames-side location on New Street. It is understood that in 2002, the original company 'WH Brakspear & Sons Ltd' while retaining ownership of the Brakspear beer brands, licenced the brewing of the beers to Refresh UK, also the owner of Wychwood. On 17 October 2002 the original brewery ceased production and closed. The site was then sold and part of it converted to become one of the "Hotel du Vin" chain of boutique hotels. The now non-brewing Brakspear Pub Company concentrates on maintaining and expanding its growing pub estate (102 pubs) in November 2006 the company was bought by pub chain JT Davies for £106million. It has been announced