Benskins Brewery - Legacy

Legacy

Benskins had close ties to the local football team, Watford FC. In 1921 Benskins purchased the current Vicarage Road ground and leased it to the club at a peppercorn rent. In 2001 the club purchased the ground from Punch Taverns, who had inherited the freehold as part of their acquisition of the Allied Domecq estate. In 2006 the club also purchased the freehold of the Red Lion pub opposite the ground, which had previously been part of the Benskins tied estate. The pub, re-opened in 2012 and currently known as the Yellow and Red Lion, is notable for its external tiling advertising "Benskins Celebrated Watford Ale & Stout" still extant.

A number of other pubs in and around the Watford area still carry Benskins branding, such as the Estcourt Tavern and Nascot Arms in Watford. However, such examples are now increasingly rare. Of particular note is the Holly Bush pub in Hampstead, London, which continues to display a number of original brewery artefacts.

The Benskins name lived on for a number of years in the Benskins Morris of Watford, although they themselves have now disbanded.

Before demolition, the wider brewery site was used as a filming location for the "Heroes" episode of the British TV drama series The Professionals.

The former Brewery House of the Cannon Brewery is now home to Watford Museum.

As of 2010, the main part of the original brewery site is once again being redeveloped after the demise of the Watford Springs swimming pool. During the construction of the Wellspring Centre for Watford Community Church, a 15-metre deep industrial well was discovered, likely to have been the brewery's primary source of water drawn from the River Colne.