(Charles) Wells Brewery :
Bombardier English Premium Ale
It was the course of True Love that brought us the many beers of the Charles Wells Brewery that we enjoy today. As the story goes, back in the mid-1800s, Charles Wells was in the Navy, a man of the sea, and was doing quite well in his chosen profession, so much so that he was promoted to the rank of Chief Officer - a ship's captain - in 1868. Charles had long been courting a Miss Josephine Grimbley, and now that he was a man of some position in his trade, he decided it was time for the two to be married. "Not so fast," said Miss Grimbley's father. His daughter would not marry of man of the sea, a sailor that would be married more to the oceans than to his daughter.
Charles Wells had to make a decision, and in the end True Love prevailed. Charles left his nautical trade and settled down to a life ashore, in Bedford, England. In 1876, he bought the struggling Horne Lane Brewery, located on the banks of the River Ouse, at auction for the sum of 16,700 pounds, a purchase that included some 35 tied public houses. The next one hundred years saw the Charles Wells brewing concern grow and prosper. Production was rarely seen to wane, smaller breweries were added to the fold, and the number of tied pubs increase on a regular basis. As if to cap this first one hundred years in business, in 1976 a new brewery was opened, still in the town of Bedford. All this time, the business stayed within the several generations of the Wells family.
More recently, under the Charles Wells Ltd banner, the company has expanded into various, albeit related, endeavors. In addition to the UK-based pub business there is Charles Wells France, which runs a number of pubs on the Continent under the name John Bull Pub Company. Charles Wells has been a license brewer of the Japanese Kirin beer, as well as an importer of Spanish Estrella Damm beer. In the mid-2000s, the long established London-based Young brand of beer was brought in - for a time the company was know as Wells and Young's Brewing Company - later the Courage range was added to the group, while in 2011 the Scottish brands McEwan's and Younger's were acquired, all under the Charles Wells banner. Further afield, Charles Wells made a substantial foray into the wine trade with their Cockburn and Campbell Wine Merchants.
Anyway, back to the Charles Wells beer - the company is still a family run business. Regarding their signature beers brewed at the Havelock Street Brewery in Bedford, they still use a well that was sunk in 1910 on the Foster Hill Road. For us North Americans, Charles Wells does import at least a handful of their over 30 varieties of beer to this side of the Atlantic. I have found a few, and am always on the look out for more.