The Writing on the Wall

The Clinch family were bankers in Witney, Oxfordshire, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Clinch bank was eventually absorbed by Barclays in 1907. A scion of the family went into brewing, and selling beer through tied houses, setting up a brewery in Witney in 1811. In 1841 they established the 'Eagle maltings' on this site, in the back streets of the town. The brewing company had its ups and downs, at one stage establishing a brewery on the Isle of Man; the maltings suffered bomb damage during WWII. The family interest in the brewery ended in 1945, but the company remained independent until 1962, when it was bought by Courage

Courage were only really interested in the pubs, and closed the Clinch brewery almost immediately. After a 20 year lull, someone called Paddy Glenny bought the brewing assets in the 1980s, and opened the Eagle brewery in the cellar of this building. In 1990, Eagle was renamed Wychwood brewery - named after the nearby royal hunting forest, established by Ethelred II in the 10th century, which is now a much prized and cared for ancient woodland, SSSI and national nature reserve

Wychwood has been a very successful brand. It was acquired by Marstons in 2002, and will now be known to most UK beer lovers, as its ales - especially its flagship 'Hobgoblin' - are to be found in many supermarkets throughout the country. Marstons continued to brew here on the Clinch's Eagle maltings site, until the present day

All Marstons considerable brewing operation was devolved in 2020 into a separate business: a 'partnership' which is 60% owned by the multi-national mega-brewer, Carlsberg. In September, the 'partnership' announced thay they are closing Wychwood brewery in November and relocating the brewing of Wychwood beers to Burton on Trent

Hoping to buy beer on site for the last time, we dropped in this afternoon. An A4 page, taped to the shop window, informed us that the shop is already closed permanently - presumably the earliest and easiest 'efficiency savings'. Sic transit gloria