‘At the Sign of the Hop Leaf’. This detailed history of the rise of Simonds Brewery was written as a dissertation by John Lewis in 2003 for his MA in Local History. Illustrations were added later. He has generously made it available here. He was perhaps fortunate that Duncan Simonds (1917-2002) Managing Director of the Brewery at the time of the merger with Courage Barclay, was able to comment on the draft just before he died.

Sign Of The Hop Leaf