Announcement Date: 01/08/2017

1824 – 1887

John Harris, originally a farmer, moved to Hook Norton in 1849, purchasing a farm of 52 acres in part of the village known as Scotland End. Included in the sale of the farm was a malthouse, which was already supplying village brewers with malt. At this time, there were many small time brewers in the village and John Harris started to supply them with hops as well. Although it is thought that he had been brewing his own beer for some time, his commercial brewing appears to have started in 1856. Over the next thirty years, the brewery steadily increased in size with sales expanding both locally and further afield, combined with the start of the pub estate. He died in 1887.