The History, The Place & The Inspiration
If you’ve spent any time around The Forum, The George, The Sussex Arms, or The Philanthropist, you’ll know we’re big believers in the power of place. To us, where we brew matters just as much as what we brew.
Tunbridge Wells has a way of shaping the people and ideas that grow here, and Fonthill is no exception. It’s not just a random name stamped on the steel of our kegs; it comes from the place we stand on, and the long, winding, and occasionally muddy history of this corner of Tunbridge Wells.
Ready to learn more? Then grab a pint and settle in, because this is the story of how a group of creative and musical friends built a venue, a couple of pubs, a brewery, a community…. all from the same spark of independent energy.
The Sip That Sprung a Town
Tunbridge Wells began with a sip.
Long before Fonthill Brewing Co., before The Forum, before the pubs and the music and the pints, or even the town itself, there was just woodland and a quiet little spring.
In 1606, Dudley North (while recovering from illness… or perhaps one too many drinks the night before), on his way back to London, stumbled upon the Chalybeate Spring — an iron-rich mineral spring tucked between what is now the Pantiles and the Common. He drank the water, felt better (or so the story goes), and word began to spread.
People followed, the town grew, and the whole place took shape around that first, healing sip.
By the late 17th century, people were flocking here for the “healing waters,” and a town began to form around this unlikely source of wellbeing.
Tunbridge Wells exists because of water. And we like to think there’s something poetic about that.
So, Where Does Fonthill Come In?
The land at the bottom of the Common has long been known as “Fonthill”. It’s here, on a small stretch of ground, where our story begins. A dipper’s cottage may have stood here; some local histories say Mrs Humphreys, who served the chalybeate water to Lord North, lived on the spot. We can’t verify that with confidence (even the museum treats it as educated speculation), so consider it folklore rather than fact.
Still, the association between spring water and this site runs deep.
Historical maps (Bowra, 1739; Ordnance Survey, 1872) refer to this little patch of ground on the edge of the Common, right by London Road, as “Fonthill”. At various times in history, it held a forge, a smithy, a fire station, and a workshop. In other words, it’s long been a land inhabited with makers, fixers, builders and creators who once served the booming spa town.
Tunbridge Wells grew because of its water; Fonthill is the land shaped by it.
Not a bad legacy for a brewery to inherit. In some ways, it’s hard to imagine a more apt name!
A Building With Layers of Local History
The structure sitting atop Fonthill that many people recognise today — the arched brick building on London Road — was built in 1939, and “Fonthill Rest Shelter,” owned by the Town Corporation, appears in directories and records. Functional, simple, and very much of its time, it served the many walkers on the Common and visitors heading down to the Pantiles. During WWII, it was part of the decontamination station network.
Later, it housed small council divisions, craftspeople, a brass-rubbing centre, and yes, even the public toilets some locals still half-jokingly remember. This was a space Tunbridge Wells reused constantly, adapting it to whatever the town needed.
A Creative Landmark Is Born
By the early 1990s, the building atop Fonthill had been sitting empty, unloved, and just waiting for someone to see its potential.
Then, in 1992, Jason Dormon and a group of friends had an idea for the building’s next chapter. Their vision wasn’t toilets, or a civic leftover…
They saw a live music venue.
A place where Tunbridge Wells’ young bands could play, practice, and hone their craft. Where touring indie acts could stop and play between London and Brighton, and where noise, creativity and independence could live loudly.
In 1993, the building reopened as The Forum.
This fiercely independent grassroots venue would change the cultural landscape of this town, and go on to host future household names on their climb to fame, with performances from Oasis, Adele, The Libertines, and more.
That DIY spirit — the decision to make something instead of waiting for someone else to do it — is the same DNA that eventually gave us the brewery.
From Fonthill to Forum to Pubs to Brewery
The same crew behind The Forum later took on The Ragged Trousers (now operated by Hopbine Pubs), The Sussex Arms and then The George, where something very exciting happened.
They saw the old 18th-century coaching stables behind The George, and, as Forum people tend to do, they saw potential where most wouldn’t.
Those stables became the home of Fonthill Brewing Co. A tiny operation at first, tinkering, testing, brewing ten firkins at a time, using locally grown hops and traditional methods to hand craft beers, brewed metres away from the people drinking them.
That stable block is where the brewing kit still sits today — home to award-winning craft beer, brewed with Kentish hops and proper local graft.
So when it came time to name the brewery, the choice almost made itself.
Fonthill. A name tied to the land, the spring, the Common, the venue, the journey — and to the independent streak that built it all.
A Name That Fits
Fonthill isn’t just a historic label, but it speaks to something we believe in: Local ingredients. That is, local hands, local stories, and local beer.
We brew small batches so the beer can be as fresh and flavourful as possible.
We supply our pubs because we want to keep the beer miles low.
We began, and remain, in Tunbridge Wells, because it’s our home.
The name connects every pint we make to the place that shaped us, and the place we hope to keep shaping in return.
Fonthill predates us by centuries. We didn’t invent it, we’re simply carrying it forward.
Fonthill is tied to water, the soul of every beer. The same water that founded Tunbridge Wells now helps us define our beers.
Fonthill connects craft with craft. Blacksmiths, carpenters, farriers… now brewers. Our story began on a patch of land that has always been home to people who work with their hands.
Fonthill links our brewery to our roots. The same founders, the same ethos: make something locally, keep it independent, do it well.
In the end, some breweries name themselves after myths. We named ours after place.
Fonthill Today
Today, Fonthill Brewing Co. is part of a family that includes:
- The George (our home base)
- The Sussex Arms and Forum Basement Music Venue
- The Forum (still fiercely independent)
- The Philanthropist Taproom & Coffee Shop (where you can taste our beers at their freshest)
- The Fonthill Taproom Function Room
Where the Story Continues
Come taste our beers at The Philanthropist Taproom on The Pantiles, or drop by The George, where the brewery sits just a few steps from the bar.
You’ll be drinking beer brewed on land with centuries of history behind it, made by people who really care about keeping that story going.