Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo, July 1983, by kind permission of Eric Hartland.

Above photo, September 1982, by kind permission of Eric Hartland.

Above photo showing the same shot in August 2011, by kind permission of Eric Hartland.

From the The Anchor, Barclay Perkin's house magazine, Volume XXXIV, No.7, July 1954. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

BRIDGE HOUSE, MAIDSTONE

A Demonstration Bar and Lecture Room.

For some 12 months, facilities have existed at Medway Brewery for the instruction of prospective and existing tenants in the Maidstone area. For this purpose premises near the brewery known as Bridge House were converted.

The ground floor of Bridge House now consists of a Reception Room and a Demonstration Bar complete with servery and display cabinet, attractively arranged with the Company's products, the whole serving both for demonstration purposes and for practical use.

On the first floor are a Lecture Room in which figure cellar equipment, beer engines, brewing materials etc and also a room in which lunch is provided for tenants visiting Bridge House to take the one day "potted course of instruction."

The whole scheme was at first experimental but it has proved a great success and the majority of tenants have left Bridge House as sterner critics of their own house and displays. All of them carry away at least some new ideas.

The programme for tenants visiting Bridge House is briefly as follows:-

Theoretical Lecture on Brewing;

Practical Demonstration of this by a Tour of the Brewery;

Talks and Discussions on Cellar Management, Equipment, Hygiene and Cabinet Display etc;

Then follows Lunch at which the Directors available always attend, so that problems of the moment can be discussed in an easy and informal manner;

The afternoon is devoted to a Tour of Anchor Vaults and the Mineral Water Factory, both at Rochester.

The Bar itself is presided over by a permanent Steward whose knowledge of the trade is at the disposal of tenants who are new or who may have recently obtained a Full Licence and who are not too happy with the mysteries of "Gin and Mixed" etc. The Company's products are, of course, displayed to advantage, also the new lines of glasses that are obtainable through the Company and new advertisements or other means of publicity can be examined and explained under ideal conditions. A very large number of tenants and visitors have now been to Bridge House as is evident by the well-filled Visitors' Book.

The arrangement and equipping of Bridge House was done by Mr R R Bourne of the Property Department of Medway Brewery and very great credit is due to him.

The Lectures of Brewing and the Brewery Tour are in the hands of Mr G A Jessup, Second Brewer at Medway Brewery and the lectures on Cellar Management are given by Mr Bourne.