Bedfordshire’s Breweries - The Higgins & Sons Brewery

Charles Higgins and his family moved to Bedford in the 1820s. He was proprietor of the Swan hotel and founded the brewery on land owned by the Duke of Bedford at Castle Lane. The brewery was built 1838 and Charles built the Higgins family home next to it in 1842. The family business was very successful and they were influential figures in the town for over a hundred years.

Bradford Rudge (1813-1885) Bedford Times Coach © The Higgins Bedford Collection. Charles Higgins standing in the door way to The Swan Inn in the red slippers.

As well as founding the brewery, Charles Higgins (c.1789-1862) was a successful Liberal politician and Mayor of Bedford. During his tenure as Mayor he was presented with a silver salver (now on display in the Mayor's Parlour) commemorating the ‘zeal, ability and humanity extended by him’ during the cholera epidemic of 1849. Following Charles Higgins' lead, the Higgins family remained devoted to Bedford life. George Higgins (1816-1883), Cecil's father, was a Justice of the Peace, a member of the Town Council and a Trustee of the Harpur Charity. Lawrence (1849-1930), Cecil's brother, was also a Justice of the Peace, and Cecil (1856-1941) was a local magistrate for many years.

(Left) Higgins Brewery c.1895 (Right) Plan of brewery site and Higgins family home at Castle Close

Charles Higgins’ son, George, ran the brewery in partnership with Charles and then passed the baton to his second son Lawrence. Cecil, the youngest of the family, moved to London and enjoyed the high life, visiting the opera, gallivanting around in his Rolls Royce, and collecting decorative pieces of furniture for his home. The brewery and house buildings were bought from the Duke of Bedford by Lawrence and Cecil in 1908 for £13,250.

(Left) Photograph of Cecil Higgins © The Higgins Bedford Collection (Right) Higgins and Sons Ltd bottle, BMG.25

The brewery was very successful and the brothers bought over 40 local pubs, including The Case is Altered at Ravensden and the Cat and Custard Pot at Shelton. Eventually Lawrence retired from the operational side of the business and Cecil was given responsibility for the brewery. It remained in the Higgins family for over 90 years until brewing ceased on 5 October 1928 when Cecil Higgins, then over seventy, decided to sell. In 1931 competitors Wells & Winch Ltd. of Biggleswade bought the brewery for £180,000 and promptly closed it down.

Lantern Slide of The Case is Altered, Ravensden, Walter N Henman, 1939, BEDFM 1974.27.599

After the sale, Cecil devoted his later life to collecting fine and decorative art with the aim of founding a museum ‘for the benefit, interest and education of the inhabitants of, and visitors to Bedford’. Cecil Higgins Art Gallery opened in 1949 in the Higgins family home. The brewery became Bennett’s Clothing factory for a time and during the Second World War factory workers made shirts for the military. Later the buildings became a postal sorting office. When this closed in the 1960s the building fell into disrepair and was nominated for refurbishment by the Bedford Borough Council so that Bedford Museum could move into the former Higgins & Sons Brewery building in 1981, housing the Bedford Modern School collection. The brewery and house opened as The Higgins Bedford in 2013 following refurbishment and extension of the buildings as one complete site.

Written by Lydia Saul, Keeper of Social History

You can read more of our Bedfordshire Breweries series here.