The Red Lion Brewery – Hoare & Co
The Red Lion Brewery, established in the 16th century, was owned for over100 years by Hoare’s, the bankers. It was one of the oldest breweries and pioneered many changes and developments in brewing, as a prime producer of ‘porter beer’ and later owning or leasing many famous tied pubs throughout the south east.
The tensions between Hoare’s Bank at the sign of the Golden Bottle in Fleet Street and the Red Lion Brewery in Lower East Smithfield led to quarrels and disappointments between the Hoare family members in the Bank and those in the Brewery. Meticulously researched there are 60 illustrations, many from family archives and from Hoare’s Bank, many never reproduced before.