Webster's Brewery - Fountain Head Brewery

Fountain Head Brewery

The brewery site was chosen for its Pennine spring which provided the ready water supply necessary for brewing. The water was rich in magnesium sulphate which added bitterness to the beer and provided it with a dry finish. In 1873 the brewery was extended and redeveloped. In 1890 the brewery was linked to the Halifax High Level Railway network facilitating transportation of its products. In 1900 the maltings building was built as part of a £10,000 (£1 million in 2010) development project. It was designed by William Chambers and is a landmark of the Ovenden valley. By 1958 the company's existing offices in Northgate, Halifax, were proving too small for the expanding company, and new offices were custom built on the Ovenden Wood site. The landmark maltings building was closed in 1960 as its 12,000 stone (76,000 kg) per annum capacity proved insufficient for the brewery's increasing needs, and the building was used for storage.

In 1973 Watney Mann commissioned a new brewhouse. In 1979 a new £6 million lager plant was started, initially brewing Holsten. By the early 1980s the brewery had beer production volumes of around 400,000 barrels per annum and employed around 600 people. At this time the brewery was described as "wonderfully traditional" by Roger Protz and had open fermentation vessels, mash tuns and copper brewing vessels. Production of Budweiser began in 1984. Having previously been used for storage, in 1986 the historic Long Can Hall was converted to function as the brewery's visitor's centre. By 1987 brewery capacity was extended from 1 million barrels a year to 1.3 million barrels. In 1989 the former maltings building, now known as the "Old Maltings", was converted into brewery offices. In 1990 the Old Maltings was categorised as a Grade II listed building. By 1990 the largest proportion of the Fountain Head Brewery was dedicated to brewing Webster's and Wilsons ales. The brewery's bottling line was closed in 1991, resulting in the loss of 54 jobs.

At the time of the brewery's closure in November 1996 it employed 184 people on a ten hectare site. As well as Webster's and Wilson's beers, the brewery had been producing the lager brands Foster's and Molson. The brewery had been running at "well below" 50 per cent of its 1.3 million barrel capacity which was deemed "unsustainable" according to Scottish & Newcastle management. Although productivity per employee had been the highest of any of Scottish & Newcastle's brewing plants it was claimed that it would have required substantial investment if it was to remain competitive.

In 2004 housing was built on the former brewery site. After a period of dormancy, the Old Maltings reopened as a children's day nursery in 2007, and a school and community centre was opened alongside the nursery in 2011.