Kent can boast of having Britain’s oldest surviving brewer.

Shepherd Neame of Faversham can trace its history with authority back to 1678 and arguably well before that.

As Kent is the Garden of England, where hops and barley grow easily and where pure water is in abundance, the county has been home to countless breweries over the centuries.

Before modern preservation techniques were developed, beer travelled badly, with the result that many communities had their own local brewer – and sometimes two or three.

It was the discovery of a means to bottle beer – pioneered by Ralph Fremlin of the Fremlins brewery in Maidstone – and the arrival of the railways that changed the shape of the industry.

From the 1860s onwards, bottled beer and faster deliveries enabled breweries to market their products to a much wider geographical area, triggering the Monopoly-game process that led to one brewery taking over another, only to be later taken over itself, until we were left with the handful of major brewers that we have today.

So what happened to those other breweries that were once household names? It's time to take a trip down Memory Lane.

Frederick Leney & Sons Ltd was one of two big brewers based in Wateringbury. The other was Jude, Hanbury and Co.

Leney operated from the Phoenix Brewery in Bow Road.

The brewery had been built originally by the Crow family in 1821 and was known then as The Wardens Hill Brewery, but after a fire there, Charles Leney purchased a 21-year lease on the property in 1838 and he renamed it appropriately.

The Leney family were local farmers with their own fruit and hop farms, and they also established the village's gas company.

In 1847, Charles' younger brother Frederick joined him in the business, which then operated as Messrs Charles & Frederick Leney.

In 1859, Charles Leney left the business, and two years later left the village altogether.

In 1864, Frederick was joined by his eldest son, also confusingly called Charles, and in 1873, Frederick's second son, Augustus, also joined the business.

From that point onwards the firm became known as Frederick Leney & Sons.

That was the name that was officially registered in 1885, even though by that time Frederick Leney had been dead for four years.

Augustus oversaw a huge expansion drive for the company, purchasing public houses left, right and centre to ensure an outlet for his beers, and by 1895 the company had 156 houses.

These included 31 pubs purchased from the Tonbridge brewers Benjamin Baker and James Taylor Baker.

Augustus was particularly proud to buy at auction the Camden Hotel in Pembury for £3,150, but the firm also had pubs in Hadlow, Hildenborough, East Peckham, West Malling, Borough Green, Edenbridge, Yalding, West Malling and St Mary Cray.

The company supported the expansion by setting up stores and sales offices in Tunbridge Wells, Sittingbourne and Chatham.

August Leney, who lived at The Orpines in Wateringbury, liked to hunt. He was Master of the Mid-Kent Staghounds and in 1915 was thrown from a horse while jumping a fence and died.

He was satirised by the war poet Siegfried Sassoon in his semi-autobiographical book Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, where Augustus was the inspiration for the character of Gus Gimling, who was described as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.” Sassoon lived nearby at Matfield.

In 1921, the firm paid £20,000 to take over the Yalding brewery of H.T. Wickham & Co and its 11 associated public houses. The takeover was made jointly with Jude, Hanbury who took a share of Wickham’s portfolio.

‘In 1927, the company, which by then also owned the hop farm at Beltring, was bought for the first time by the London brewers Whitbread and Co, though it continued to trade under its own name until 1961.

The purchase price was £270,000 which included 130 pubs.

After just two years, Whitbread transferred the company to Wateringbury's other big brewer Jude, Hanbury and Co in exchange for shares in their business and for a while Leney was run by Percy Jude, a member of their former arch-rivals.

Jude, Hanbury and Co had started brewing in Wateringbury in 1810, but in 1923, the firm bought up the Canterbury brewer Ash & Co, which gave them a new brewery at Dane John in Canterbury and they sold their own Wateringbury site to the Yalding Soap Company.

Their control of Leney's was short-lived. In 1930, Whitbread bought out Jude, Hanbury and Co, which again gave them the Phoenix Brewery. They famously used the site to manufacture the distinctive Whitbread pub signs which were also reproduced as collector's items on aluminium playing cards.

In 1961, Whitbread reached an agreement with Fremlins for that firm to sell its beers in the Leney pubs and the Leney name was dropped.

However, the Phoenix brewery continued to make Whitbreads Light Ale, Gold Label Barley Wine and Fremlins Gold Top.

The old Phoenix Brewery closed in 1982 when all brewing was transferred to Faversham. It did not rise from the ashes, although its weathervane was transferred to the roof of the Wateringbury Hotel, where sadly it went missing during later repair work. The one on the roof of the hotel today is a smaller replica. In 1984, the brewery site was redeveloped as a housing estate where it is remembered in the name Leney Road.

Leney pubs had included The Swan in West Malling and the Good Intent in Tonbridge.

The Jude, Hanbury and Co brewery, known as the Kent Brewery, had been started by John Jude who passed the business on to his nephew, William.

Ernest Hanbury, who came from a London brewing family, joined as a partner in 1870.

In 1923, Jude, Hanbury and Co it bought out the East Kent Brewery, which was based in Sandwich; the Ash's Brewery in Canterbury – as already mentioned. The year before they had already bought at auction the Vine Brewery in Tenterden run by Obadiah Edwards.

It also subsequently bought out Messrs Mackeson and Co of Hythe, which had been in existence for 240 years. The deal was actually done with Simond's of Reading, who had acquired Mackeson’s in 1920.

Like Mackeson’s, Jude, Hanbury and Co was particularly well known for its stouts.

Beside Ash and Co, Canterbury had another famous brewer, Flint & Co Ltd.

Founded in 1797, the company’s St Dunstan's Brewery was in St Dunstan's Street, near Place House, the 16th-century home of Margaret Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More.

The company used an image of the Roper Gate, which still exists today, as its advertising logo.

It began trading as Flint and Kingswood, but when it was registered as a private company in 1892 it was known as Flint & Sons Ltd, but was then re-registered as Flint and Co in September 1903.

It had one of the biggest portmanteau of tied houses of any brewery – 110 at the time it was taken over in 1923, confusingly by Alfred Leney and Co, a Dover-based firm (of which more later).

Brewing at St Dunstan’s ceased in 1929, but it is unusual in that almost 100 years later many of its buildings are still standing, including the brewhouse and a 19th century maltings.

Among the many Flint pubs were The Black Lion in Northgate Street, Canterbury, and The Sportsman in Wincheap Street.

They also had The Admiral Harvey, The Royal Mortar and the Tower Inn, in Dover, and The Honest Lawyer and the Wonder Tavern in Folkestone.

The Elephant in The Mall in Faversham still sports the Flint and Sons name in its brickwork, though actually it was The French Horn in Flints’ day, only being renamed The Elephant when Fremlins acquired it in 1952.

The Thompson & Son brewery of Walmer is now remembered only by the name of one pub in the town – the Thompson’s Bell.

Originally known as the George and Dragon, the pub changed its name to honour the distinctive bell tower that had been part of the Thompson Brewery, which was demolished in 1978.

The brewery had been founded in 1820 by Edmund Thompson. It became a registered company known as Thompson & Son in 1894.

Legend has it that the Thompson family made their fortune originally from the activities of an earlier ancestor named Captain Richard Thompson, a privateer, who had attacked a Spanish galleon and captured those on board, who, it turned out, included a number of Spanish noblemen whom he was able to ransom for significant sums.

The Thompson brewery was established on the site of an older business run by the Hayman brothers, and it is possible that Edmund Thompson may have previously worked for them. Unfortunately, all the early records were destroyed in a fire in 1820.

The fire at least allowed Thompson to rebuild in a sensible, planned way. The brewery was later praised for its “modern construction” and “spacious layout.”

The company took a huge step forward in when Thompson's snapped up Hills' Deal Brewery at auction and acquired 60-odd pubs to add to its own 10. It took as its trademark an image of the South Foreland Lighthouse.

The company made its own beers for 130 years until it was bought up by Charrington & Co Ltd in 1951.

The final beers were brewed at Walmer in 1953, after which Charringtons used the site as a depot until its disposal in the late 1970s.

At the point that had been acquired by Charringtons, Thompson and Son had around 100 tied pubs.

The brewery made both bottled and draught ales and stouts, which won the praise of an 1897 edition of the Illustrated Guide to Deal and Walmer, which stated: “The A.K.S. Bitter Ale will be found a particularly well-flavoured tonic ale for general use; whilst the A.K. cheaper ale, and the celebrated India Pale Ale are both of excellent quality, clear and bright to the last.”

“The latter as well as Pale Ale, Light Dinner Ale, Stout and Cooper are also obtainable in fine condition in screw-topped bottles.

“The other productions of the Walmer Brewery consist of X, XX and XXX Ales of varying strengths, Double Stout and Porter; whilst the firm also bottles large quantities of Bass's Ales in the best possible condition.”

Thompson’s was particularly proud of its Black Velvet Stout, which it marketed as “the Champagne of Stouts”.

Sometimes, however, the brewery made the local press for less positive reasons.

In its November 17 edition of 1916, the Dover and East Kent News recorded how a Mr J Turner, the brewer at the Walmer Brewery, had been found drowned after falling into a vat of beer.

Dartford of course had its own breweries. The best known was C. N. Kidd & Son, who operated from the Steam Brewery in Hythe Street.

It had previously been known as the Oak Brewery and had been founded by William Miskin, but after rebuilding the premises in 1890, Charles Newman Kidd wanted the brewery to have a more modern name.

It became a registered company in 1920, but was bought out by Courage and Co in 1937, who wanted the 65 pubs that went with it.

They included The Back Boy in St Mary Cray High Street, The Star in Great Queen Street, Dartford, and The Prince of Wales in Milton Road, Gravesend.

Courage demolished the brewery in 1939 and sold the site to the Co-operative Store.

In 1951, Courage put C.N. Kidd and Son into liquidation and the name disappeared forever.

Despite the somewhat ignominious end to the company, the Kidd family seemed to have done all right out of the firm.

The “son” in C.N. Kidd and Son was Frederick Newman Kidd (1870 to 1957).

He was said to have had a penchant for Rolls Royce motorcars and in the 1930s owned no less than six Rolls Royce Phantoms.

His younger brother, Charles Bernard Kidd, didn’t go into the business but instead spent his life hunting foxes.

He was successively Master of Hounds for the West Kent Hounds, the Southdown Hounds, the Oakley Hounds and the North Cotswolds Hounds.

He lived at Warren House in Otford, recently valued at £1.7m.

Besides Fremlins, Maidstone boasted another large brewery, Style & Winch Ltd.

Like all the others, it had many changes of ownership and several changes of name.

Its Medway Brewery was established next to the river in St Peter's Street, Maidstone, by one William Baldwin in 1799.

By 1836, the business was known as Baldwin and Godden, then in 1847 Baldwin, Godden and Holmes; in 1858 Baldwin and Holmes; in 1866 Holmes and Style, and in 1882 A.F Style and Co.

A.F. Style substantially enlarged and modernised the brewery before merging with Edward Winch and Sons Ltd of Chatham in 1899.

At the merger, Winch’s own brewery in Chatham was closed, but he did bring an estate of 365 pubs to the joint venture.

Over the next 25 years, the firm expanded by taking over eight other brewers – in each case keeping their pub estate, but closing their breweries. They were H & O Vallence of Sittingbourne (1905), Henry Simmons of Hadlow (1905), the Tooting Brewery Ltd (1907), Ashford Breweries Ltd (1912), Woodhams and Co of Rochester (1918), Edwin Finn & Sons of Lydd (1921), the Royal Brewery (Brentford) Ltd (1922) and the Dartford Brewery Co Ltd (1924.).

Eventually, Style and Winch itself became an acquisition target and in 1929 was bought by the London brewer Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd.

At that point, Style and WInch owned 600 pubs.

However, the new owners allowed the brewery to keep its name and Style and Winch beers were still brewed until 1960.

One of the most popular was their Farmer Ale, and their brown ale version known as Farmer Brown.

Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd merged with Courage & Co Ltd in 1955 to form Courage & Barclay Ltd, and then merged with H. & G. Simonds Ltd, in 1960 to become Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd.

At that point, brewing ceased at the Medway Brewery, but it was still used as a bottling plant for Courage beers until 1974 when the operation was transferred to the Parkwood Industrial Estate in Maidstone.

The vast majority of the brewery, which had dominated the riverside landscape, was demolished in 1975.

However, a few buildings remain and are now known as The Old Brewery, housing a variety of small business units.

Today the only other reminder of the brewery in Maidstone – once one of the town’s largest employers – is the Style and Winch pub in Union Street.

It was renamed from the Union Flag in 1992 in the brewery’s honour.

However, if you keep your eyes open, you will still spot Style and Winch on the fascia of some pubs around the county, including, for example, The Man of Kent in John Street, Rochester.

Let us return now to the Frederick Leney and Sons brewery in Wateringbury.

You will recall how in 1859 Charles Leney suddenly quit the business and subsequently also left the area.

The rumour is that there was a large family falling out, though the reason is unknown.

Some point to the will of Abraham Leney, the father of both Frederick and Charles, as evidence of a family rift.

Abraham died in 1862 and his will specifically stated that no part of his estate should pass to his son Charles.

Whatever the reason, Charles disappeared from the history of Kent's breweries at this point, but his youngest son, Alfred, pops up in Dover, where in 1859 he founded a new brewery in Dolphin Lane called Alfred Leney and Co.

Since Alfred was only 22 at the time, it is assumed that he was financed by his wealthy father.

He too called his brewery the Phoenix Brewery.

Initially, he ran it with his uncle, James Evenden, but eventually, he was joined by three of his own sons – another Alfred, Hugh and Frank.

The business grew and soon had additional malt houses in Castle Street, Russell Street and St James’ Place.

Together with stables and office buildings, it occupied six acres across the town.

In 1912, the company added a 135ft high chimney to the original brewery which became a landmark that could be seen for miles.

The brewery was particularly noted for its Dover Pale Ale and its Nourishing Stout.

In a period of expansion, it absorbed two other Dover breweries – D P Poulter in Russell Street and the Diamond Brewery in Folkestone Road of Thomas Philips and Co after that company went into liquidation in 1907.

It also acquired the Eagle Brewery in Rye and the Army and Navy Cooperative Breweries in Folkestone.

The company’s last acquisition was Canterbury’s Flint and Co in 1923, mentioned above, for which the firm paid £140,000.

Alfred’s wife was Catherine Fremlin, the eldest daughter of the Maidstone brewer James Fremlin.

No doubt the family connection soothed the way, but in 1927, Alfred Leney and Co merged with Fremlins and began trading under the Fremlins name.

Its estate of 67 pubs was initially leased to Fremlins for 36 years, at the end of which Fremlins also bought the freehold.

As well as many pubs in Folkestone and Dover, their estate included The Rose and Crown in Maidstone High Street, The George Hotel in Sittingbourne High Street and The Star Inn in Battle High Street.

By the time of the Fremlins merger, Alfred Leney senior was already dead. He passed away in November 1900 leaving an estate worth £188,139 – the equivalent of over £19m in today’s prices. Alfred's son, Major Claude Leney became the driving force of the new company and succeeded Frank Fremlin as MD. Alfred Leney Jnr was later to become Fremlin's chairman.

The Phoenix brewery continued to produce bottled beer in Dover until 1952 when the plant was closed down.

The building remained empty for seven years, then in 1959 the huge chimney was brought down and the following February most of the rest of the brewery followed.

A multi-storey car park now stands there.

However, the office block and one of the malthouses have survived.

In 1967, Alfred Leney, now in the form of Fremlins, followed in the footsteps of its Wateringbury cousin when Whitbread took over the company.

Today, Whitbread describes itself as a hotel and restaurant business. It sold all its brewing interests in 2000 to Interbrew S.A.

At that point, it was calculated that the firm had directly or indirectly absorbed 411 formerly independent brewers.