The City of Colchester microbrewery, Active at Companies House since 2011, still centres its trade on local pubs and festivals while offering weekday click and collect from the Viaduct Brewhouse.
For a borough that still leans on pubs and festivals as much as shopping streets, a working brewery inside the district matters. Colchester Brewery Ltd operates from the Viaduct Brewhouse at Unit 16, Wakes Hall Business Centre, Colchester Road, Wakes Colne, CO6 2DY, a civil parish within the City of Colchester.
Companies House lists the firm as Active under company number 07735436. It was incorporated on 10 August 2011 as a private limited company. Its nature of business is SIC 11050 (manufacture of beer). The registered office matches the Wakes Colne trading address. Current Active officers include director Thomas Kenyon Knox (appointed 10 August 2011) and director and secretary Anthony Charles Watney Bone (director from 31 August 2011; secretary from incorporation). Founding director Roger John Clark resigned on 1 February 2026, according to the public officer record.
The company’s own About Us page places formation in late 2011, with the first brew on 1 February 2012 on a 10-barrel kit (about 1,600 litres). That first beer, Colchester No.1, remains listed as the best-seller. Funding, the company states, came from the three founding directors and friends and family, with an explicit preference for retained profits and no bank debt.
CAMRA’s brewery entry names the founders as Tom Knox, Roger Clark and Andy Bone, and notes the use of the traditional double-drop method. The company describes double-drop fermentation as a deliberate production choice, intended to yield cleaner, easier-to-manage cask beers. CAMRA summarises the process as a two-tier system that needs extra vessels and is associated with clean beer and pronounced flavours.
On the public website, the permanent range currently listed includes Colchester No.1 (4.1% ABV copper best bitter), Raven (4.3% ABV porter), Metropolis (3.9% ABV golden hoppy ale), Sweeney Todd (4.2% ABV red best bitter) and Jack Spitty (4.0% ABV blonde ale). Seasonal or monthly specials rotate; recent listings have included beers such as Hyperbole and Romani Ite Domum. Those names and strengths are taken from the brewery’s site rather than from independent tasting notes.
Trade strategy, as set out by the company, prioritises pubs and beer festivals across Essex and neighbouring counties, with reciprocal trading so publicans can also access beers from elsewhere. Direct-to-retail, including weekday takeaway and click and collect (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday), grew during the COVID-19 period. The brewery says it turned to retail rather than mothballing, and that pubs and festivals remain the main focus.
A March 2021 company update put the brew tally at 1,468 and staffing at five full-time and one part-time. Those figures are the firm’s own, dated statement. They should not be read as a current headcount without fresher filing detail. What is current on the public register is the Active status, the beer-manufacture SIC, the Wakes Colne office, and the continuing Knox and Bone appointments.
For Colchester readers, the practical picture is straightforward. A borough-based producer still supplies cask-led beers into the local trade, keeps a weekday collection window at Wakes Colne, and publishes a clear permanent range. Independent verification sits with Companies House and CAMRA. Product claims and history sit with the brewery’s own pages. That is enough for local buyers, landlords and festival organisers to know who is behind the tap badge, and where the kit sits on the map.
