Established in 1847 Gales Brewery (George Gale & Co. Ltd) was an old brewery situated in Horndean

Horndean

Horndean is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 8 miles north of Portsmouth.The nearest railway station is 2.2 miles southeast of the village at Rowlands Castle....

, on the edge of Waterlooville

Waterlooville

Waterlooville is a town in Hampshire, England approximately 8 miles north of Portsmouth.The town has a population itself of about 10,000 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendworth, Cowplain, Lovedean, Clanfield, Catherington, Crookhorn, Denmead, Hambledon, Horndean and Widley. It forms part of...

, near Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England. It made the nutty HSB (Horndean Special Bitter) and the newer Gales Bitter. It took its water from its own well situated under the brewery which is fed from the South Downs

South Downs

The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...

, and the yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

 and 'liquor' (local water used for brewing), coupled with the local brewing style, produce beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

s with a sparse head, quite dark in colour.

In late 2005 Fuller's Brewery bought Gales for £92 million. It raised fears as to the future of Gales' Horndean brewery and some of its beers, and the Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub...

 (CAMRA) launched a campaign to encourage Fullers to continue production of the full Gales line at Horndean. However, in January 2006, Fuller's began cutting jobs at the Horndean brewery, and it was announced on 27 February 2006 that the brewery would close at the end of March 2006, although distribution and warehousing would continue in the area.

At that point, production of the Gales brands moved to Fullers' Griffin Brewery in Chiswick

Chiswick

Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...

, London, with the exception of Gales Bitter which was one of the few beers that were discontinued.