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All About The JC's

We are one of Epsom's oldest freehouses.

In keeping with pub tradition we have:

• Four real ales: inc. fuzzchat & surrey hills
  
• one real cider
  
• three lagers
• two stouts
  
• three guest ipas & pale ales
  
• two keg cider
  

We aren’t just passionate about beers, all our food is prepared freshly, locally sourced & chosen for its seasonality.

Our head chef, Jon, creates our menu based on the freshest of ingredients, so you get the best possible taste time after time.

Fuzzchat Brewery

We have opened the first brewery in Epsom for over 90 years!

The beers we showcased were really well received and we look forward to our next brew batch, think we’re going a little darker with our next brew !!

About the pub

The earliest date we have found for William Tickner of the Jolly Coopers is in Kelly’s Directory for 1859.

We believe from the Tithe Map (c.1838) and Schedule (c.1843) that the occupier/owner of the relevant plots (992 & 993) was a William King “and another” and is listed as “Part of Houses and Gardens etc.” so there no evidence that it was then a pub.

We then asked Epsom Common historian Terry Friday (tefpaf@hotmail.com) what he knew about the Jolly Coopers and this is his reply;

“The house that will become the Jolly Coopers started life about 1845-1850 although there is evidence of an earlier cottage, whether this earlier cottage is the same house at this time we do not know for sure. The row of cottages to the south (now attached and almost derelict) are much older and are the original cottages c1800.

Approximately 1860 the house was converted into a pub by the Tickner family they were Wheel Wrights and Coopers, hence the Jolly Coopers.

Not long after, the building was extended or enlarged and re-roofed, the evidence for this can be seen today in the misalignment of the bedroom windows at the front of the Pub

In the rear garden of the pub is a building probably erected about the same time as the early cottage, this was Tickner’s workshop, it is unusual as it has two storeys. This has now been converted to house our brewery.

Where did we get the name?

A Fuzzchat is a name given to anyone who was born on Epsom common. We thought it appropriate as our brew shed has been standing on the common for so long to give the brewery this fitting name.

ref: epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk

A little History

Our brew shed has seen several changes over the years, once a blacksmith for all the horses passing by on the way to Epsom Downs racecourse. In more recent years it became a barman’s cottage but without power or running water, it soon became a storeroom & not much else. Over the past decade or two, it saw very little investment, love or care and became used as a pigeon loft for some of the pub’s locals & finally became derelict when the roof fell in and the middle floor became unsafe to stand on. When the Irwin's took over the pub in 2015 they decided to restore it to its previous state & began work on turning it into the microbrewery of today.

Epsom’s brewing history

With thanks, John @CAMRA Kingston & Leatherhead branch for the following information about the previous breweries in Epsom:

R&F Pagden, Hope Brewery, Church Street. There was a brewery on the site from 1769 and it came into the ownership of the Pagden family in 1824. The brewery closed and was mostly demolished around 1921 when acquired by Barclay Perkins of Southwark. Church House, which still exists in Church Street was originally part of the brewery. Pagden’s pubs eventually became part of the Friary Meux (and then Allied Breweries) estate.

William George Bradley & Son, Epsom Brewery, Ashley Road. Acquired by Page & Overton of Croydon in 1903 and closed. The brewery buildings survived until 1985 when they were demolished during the town centre redevelopment. The pubs eventually became part of the Charrington estate.

If you know anything else about Epsom’s brewing history please feel free to get in touch at info@jollycoopers.co.uk or on our social media pages.

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