Having celebrated its 10th anniversary last autumn thames side brewery, in staines-upon-thames, has become a local institution. Not just for fans of great beer but of live music, the arts and much more besides. And having helped bring brewing back to the area after an 80 year absence, founder Andrew hayward knows just how important the power of community is for independent local businesses like his.

“I thought….ok. I’m going to take this course to put myself off the idea of pursuing a career in brewing not to encourage it. But it’s safe to say that didn’t work….”

Most would-be brewers, you’d expect, pursue courses and qualifications to further their development in the field. But a decade ago Andrew Hayward, the founder and head brewer at Thames Side Brewery in Staines-Upon-Thames, Surrey, went against the grain. Having fallen out of love with the insurance profession, he was looking for a new direction in life. 

“I had a pretty good career in the city working for Lloyd’s of London but the industry had changed and I wasn’t enjoying it anymore,” Hayward recalls. “My wife Michele could see this and encouraged me to do something else I was good at. That was the problem, I felt that I wasn’t really good at anything else! Well, except for being able to make a decent pint of homebrew. 

“Maybe she regrets asking me now!”

His journey would take him to Brewlab based in Sunderland on the banks of the River Wear. “I really enrolled in the course in an attempt to put myself of the idea of getting into brewing. If I was to start a brewery I figured there would be so much to deal with environmental health, HMRC and red tape to overcome. So much so that a career in insurance wouldn’t look all that bad after all.”

But after a completing a short five-day course, there was no turning back. “I was hooked and knew I had to give it a shot,” he smiles. “Financed by a redundancy package that gave me the cushion I needed, it allowed me to buy some kit. And if it didn’t work out then in a year I could always try and get back into insurance. That was 10 years ago now. And who knows, maybe at some point we’ll make some money out of this whole brewing thing.”

Thames Side Brewery started life purely as a micro-brewery in a tiny lock up unit wholesaling to pubs, clubs and beer festivals. “At four brewery barrels, with the market prices for 9g casks, it was very hard to do anything other than break even. While I was enjoying myself I was working hard for nothing,” says Hayward. “Either I return to my old job or find a new way to sell my beer.”

Realising that it wasn’t enough to make a go of things at this scale just wholesaling, after four years they took a short-term lease on an old derelict Sea Cadets building on the riverbank next to Staines Bridge. The proposition was such….He takes on an old building that needs a lot of work with no guarantee to make any money back. “I’m either stupid or don’t take no for an answer so I went with it but also managed to negotiate two extensions so I ended up opening three and half years there rather than 18 months. That was three years ago and, ironically, it’s still derelict.”

Thames Side Brewery developed and grew during that time. As did its reputation in the trade. Flagship numbers such as its 4.8% Egyptian Goose IPA is brewed with Fuggles and Goldings, White Swan is a 4.2% New World Pale Ale showcasing Chinook and Columbus while Heron Ale is a 3.7% easy-drinking Bitter. These are complemented by seasonal numbers such as the 4.6% Black Swan Porter and 3.4% Harrier Bitter, an English Session Bitter. The team also produce a range or popular keg offerings such as Lagers and West Coast IPAs among others, too. All beers that represent Hayward’s own diverse, changing, taste in beer. 

“I joined CAMRA back in 1976, which had only been established five years at that point. Back then it was very difficult to get decent beer while keg output was very different to what it can be now, which is a very good product,” he says. 

Living in New Malden, the stomping ground for he and his friends was Wimbledon, Kingston and Surbirton. His local, the Royal Oak in New Malden, was originally a Benskins house and part of the Watford-based brewery. 

During Hayward’s patronage it belonged to Ind Coope/Allied Breweries but on one visit he was able to sample Benskins Mild while on trips to Henley-on-Thames, beers from Brakspear were consumed and appreciated. “We made a passion of searching out real ale. Back then If there was no cask available you’d move on. Now we’ve had experiences of people doing the same if there’s no keg on. It’s amazing how things have turned in that time since. And having grown up as a traditional English bitter man, my tastes have changed over the years. Now I really like the hop-forward American styles such as West Coast IPAs.”

In starting Thames Side Brewery, Hayward would help bring brewing back to Staines following an 80 year absence. The last operating brewery in Staines prior to this was Ashby’s Staines Brewery, which was acquired by H&G Simonds in 1931, and then by Courage. Ashby Breweries was then closed down in 1936.

Thomas Ashby had started brewing in 1796 after he, along with other brewers and mineral water suppliers, were attracted to the area by the pure water in Staines. His business was apparently conducted in a basic way, and Thomas Ashby brewed beer in his own house, just as Hayward started, and reputedly delivered casks to customers on a wheelbarrow.

As the business grew, and encouraged by his wife, who tired of the constant smell in the kitchen, Thomas moved production to the garden shed. Something Hayward also did with this home brewing equipment whilst developing recipes. The brewing premises subsequently expanded onto surrounding land given to Thomas by his father in 1805.

“Even though I am in no way related to or descended from anyone involved with Ashby’s Brewery, while looking through this I noticed several things which made me feel very connected to this old company, and to which, I hoped, would help me become a worthy successor to it,” he explains.

And while researching its history, Hayward would discover that from as early as 1829, Ashby’s brewed a beer for export to “the Australian colonies”. This was described in advertisements placed in the Times in 1842 & 1843 as a beer that “resembles East India Pale Ale (IPA) in flavour and colour, but with rather more body”.

While he was not been able to find any surviving recipes from Ashby’s, but the IPA that Thames Side brew, the aforementioned Egyptian Goose IPA, is based upon an old fashioned English IPA rather than the currently popular American style IPAs. Typically, IPAs only use pale malt as their base — as indeed he has done with that beer. In an attempt to give his the “rather more body” boasted of in the adverts, he tweaked the recipe slightly in another way.

“So while not labelled as such, this is my effort to complete the brewing circle and bring it back to Staines by producing something possibly similar to that last produced by Ashby’s Staines Brewery Limited in the 1800’s,” says Hayward. “We are proud to return the craft of brewing to Staines.”

Fast-forward to 2022, adopting a “don’t ask, don’t get” mentality, Hayward needed to find a solution for Thames Side and the next stage of its journey. Thankfully a nearby Two Rivers shopping complex, currently home to retail outfits such as M&S and Hotel Chocolat, would provide the resolution to this particular problem. “They had an empty building that started life as Blockbuster Video and latterly, a Frankie & Benny’s restaurant. What began as a conversation about storage turned into them offering it to me on a five-year lease. I’m hopeful in two years we can extend that once again.”

Taking on the lease for the property that October, the brewery was able to open in time for the Christmas trading period by December. And for that, Hayward has a long list of people to thank. “Maybe it was related to the lease but when Frankie & Benny’s vacated this premises they took everything. And I mean everything. The ceilings, internal walls and flooring all went. The bathrooms including toilet bowls also went with them. We were left with a blank canvas which can be a positive. But it also cost a lot of money to put things back to how they were.”

He adds: “But you know what, a lot of people who knew our journey really wanted to help us succeed. So I had friends coming from all over the country in painting walls and helping with building works. With their invaluable help we went from a four-wall shell to open within seven weeks.”  

And three years on, Thames Side Brewery is a treasured and valued part of the area’s fabric, providing a destination for fans of locally-made beer but also live music and the arts. “The costs of running these premises were more than our previous facility so it made complete sense to look at other ways we can utilise the space. I love the fact that our brewery can be a hub for creativity. And with austerity, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis following hot on the heels of each other, you need to give people more reasons to head out,” he says. “When I started drinking a pint was 20p and the cost of a pint is now a lot more – percentage-wise, of people’s salaries than it was then.” 

Hayward says that Thames Side is a brewery first-and-foremost but the entertainment element is both important and necessary. “We’re giving people a reason to go out, a shared experience.” You can catch live music three to four times a week while acts like chart-topping heroes Hard-Fi have also played the venue during the last 18 months.

During these events, thirsty patrons enjoy a range of beers. These brews are produced on the brewery’s four brewery barrel kit as well as a smaller kit that outputs four firkins at a time. “Our big kit is a small kit for many breweries and the smaller kit is a quarter of that size. But it allows the brilliant brewing team to experiment and have fun, which is hugely important.”

And ensuring the beers keep flowing, Hayward has the brewing team of Mike White, Glen Pearson, Clive Naish and Victor Butler Shaw. These are supported in the wider business by a steering committee of Julian Sore, Dorian Mead, Ania Nawrocka and Mike White.

While the beers the team produce are primarily enjoyed by local patrons, some have been brewed by those from much further afield. After delivering a talk 

at the New England Real Ale Exhibition (NERAX), the longest running Cask Festival in the United States, Hayward has struck up a friendship with Pete Harkins who owns Backbeat Brewery in Beverly, Massachusetts. A regular visitor to these shores, recent collaboration Brown Sugar is a 6.8% American Brown Ale which was poured at the Pig’s Ears beer festival in London at the start of December. 

But despite being a decade into its journey with countless beers brewed, and as many bands and patrons through its doors, Hayward rarely allows himself a moment to reflect. “It does give me pleasure to think about what we’ve built, but I don’t often allow myself the indulgence of dwelling on it. Because I know this brewery is a sum of its parts and doesn’t exist without all of the fantastic people that have helped support it and work with me.” 

He adds: “So even though I’m 68 now I don’t know what’s going on in two years time. But I would somehow like this to continue. Not from a place of ego but because I think Staines need somewhere like this. This is the only place I will walk to because there is nowhere else like it.

“And you know what – I love it. We get to make great beer and listen to great music as well as the other cultural things that happen here. Plus, we help out the community and give back where we can. I think it is a very special place, and I’m determined that with the brewers, our steering committee, our bar staff plus and local support, we will continue to do whatever we need to do to keep it going. 

“So yes, I have my wife Michele to thank for pushing me in this direction – whether she likes it or not!