Beer history in Leiston
From Royal Standard to Daft Monk Brewery
Tony Green, CAMRA Ipswich, was so nice to provide the following information:
Just recently a microbrewery was located in the premises of the Volunteer. It seems that the (then) landlord of the Volunteer ran it in 2010 and may be even after that. Oddly enough, the brewery's website is still online (http://www.daftmonkbrewery.co.uk/) though probably only because it was registered as a long-term site (it expires in December 2019). According to the App “Ratebeer”, Bad Habit was a 4.7% golden ale, Bishop's Ballsup was a 4.0% bitter and Mr Figgins was a 7.4% spiced ale.
The only other record of brewing in Leiston was found in the 1844 White's Directory, which listed George Gildersleeves as a brewer & spirit merchant. In 1855, the same directory listed him as a brewer & beerhouse keeper. According to the records, he was at the White Horse in 1839/1840 and then moved to the Royal Standard in 1841, where he's recorded up to the census of 1851. His wife alone is recorded in the 1861 census, so he probably died between those years. So from those dates, he may well have been brewing *at* the Royal Standard.
There must inevitably have been more brewers in the town before that; almost certainly all based in pubs, as it was the norm before the 19thcentury for pubs to brew their own beer, since only a few commercial brewers existed before that time. Though records from that long ago are few and far between and that is why.