The Brew House

The Brew House is a malthouse and brewery building dating largely from 1899, although parts may be earlier. It is constructed of red brick with Welsh slate roofs, with some upper sections clad in sheet lead. The building has a complex plan and is predominantly three and four storeys high, presenting a main east elevation of nineteen bays. The first three bays project as a two-storey section with a hipped lean-to roof, and behind them is a four-storey tower with a hipped roof. There is a variety of metal and timber casement windows. The subsequent ten bays are two-storey high, separated by brick pilasters. A large roof sweep extends to the height of the tower eaves, and each bay on both levels features a window or door. A late 20th-century porch was added to the southernmost bay. Dormer windows are located at a high level over bays 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, with the dormer over bay 10 being the largest. An unloading doorway is set within a flat-roofed dormer just above eaves level on bay 9. The next three bays are occupied by malthouse oast towers, with windows to the ground, first and fourth floor levels (the window to the centre of the first floor bay being now blocked). They have steeply sloping, truncated pyramidal roofs, slated with metal ventilator terminals. A similar tower is present on the west side of the building, and between the oast towers is a fifth-storey unit with lead-clad sides and a hipped, slated roof. The final three bays form a plain four-storey unit, with eaves level with the oast towers, a hipped slated roof and random fenestration, alongside an external metal staircase with a partial canopy to the first-floor doorway of bay 1. The west elevation is of similar character. A tower on the south-west corner appears to be earlier than the 1899 date.

The interior features a cased metal framework (likely steel rather than cast-iron), an inserted floor, and partitioning within the ten-bay block to create a late 20th-century office suite. There is a large open roof space with a galleried walkway providing access to massive timber trusses. The oast towers are largely intact, retaining their barley floors and much of the original equipment.

The site, known as The Horsefair, had a well-established brewery by 1778, when the owner was Mayor of Romsey. It was leased by Thomas Strong in 1858 and purchased by him in 1883. His successor firm, Strongs of Romsey, became a significant brewer and a key industry within the town. Strongs was absorbed by Whitbread in 1969, brewing ceased in 1989, and the site was vacated. The building is a prominent landmark in Romsey, rivaling the town's Abbey in visibility from all viewpoints.