The History of Harveys

Harvey and Sons

Henry, Edwin and William Harvey developed "Harvey & Son" at the Bridge Wharf Site (acquired in 1838). By 1859 Henry Harvey was brewing Porters, Stouts and strong Mild Ales for distribution among 17 family owned public houses mostly located in the Eastbourne and Hailsham areas of Sussex. These were prosperous days for enterprising brewers.

The Harvey Houses:

• The Alma Arms, Uckfield
• The Arlington Arms, Eastbourne
• The Blackboys, nr Heathfield
• The Cricketers Arms, Berwick
• The Foresters Arms, East Hoathly
• The Golden Cross, Nr Hailsham
• The Grenadier Hailsham
• The Halfway House, Isfield
• The Hurst Arms, Eastbourne
• The Lamb, Eastbourne
• The Polegate Arms (Dinkum)
• The Red Lion, Turners Hill
• The Red Lion, Stone Cross
• The Terminus, Eastbourne
• The Trevor Arms, Glynde (Leased)
• The Victoria, Eastbourne
• The White Hart, Crawley

Tragedy Struck in the 1860s; shortly after John Harvey's death, Henry and Edwin died within days of each other leaving William alone to run the business. William Harvey was no brewer, so he hired Henry Titlow-Barrett from Wethereds in Marlow to take over the company's beer production, and also went into business with John Maxfield-Smith the husband of his daughter (Alice Harvey) before his own unexpected death in 1868.

This extemporaneous transition to the third and fourth generations of the family (the Harveys-Smiths), proved to be far from ideal for the company's prosperity. The next 60 years witnessed a gradual decline into an effective recession at Harveys. However, prior to this slump, the present Gothic Victorian brewery was built under the supervision of Titlow-Barrett, having been designed by William Bradford, a renowned brewery architect.

Harveys' fortunes hereafter contrasted dramatically to those of many other contemporary brewing companies. A few of these were to experience phenomenal growth over the ensuing century to become national brewing giants such as Watneys, Charrington and Whitbread. Paradoxically it was Harveys' very lack of expansion at this time that may have been a key reason for the company's long term survival (long after those other great names became memories). At the turn of the 20th century Harveys was so insignificant that it fell 'below the gaze' of those bigger concerns that would have swallowed a more dynamic business.

By the 1920s the Company was heavily mortgaged and its few pubs were in a poor state of repair. John Maxfield-Smith's daughters were running the company at the time of its incorporation in 1928. Alice May Harvey-Smith (William Harvey's grand-daughter) was the firm's first chairman. It was she and her sisters who decided to make two crucial appointments that ultimately were to lead to the company's survival and long term prosperity.