For nearly a century and a half the building, with its tall chimney, towered above the Dorset town as a symbol of local industry and prosperity. Designed by architect WR Crickmay the brick building was completed in 1880. At a staggering 13% the brewery’s Thomas Hardy Ale once featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the strongest commercially brewed beer in the country.
The brewery eventually closed in 2003 and the site remained unused until, in 2007, planning permission was granted for a new public square overlooked by the impressive building, restored to its former glory containing 29 one, two and three-bedroom apartments.
LMA Architecture of Bournemouth has retained many of the unique features of the original building including riveted steel beams, cast iron columns and exposed brickwork. Crittall Corporate W20 steel windows and doors were a natural choice, glazed in small panes to replicate the original configuration of the tall brewery windows.
