Wellpark Brewery was originally known as the Drygate Brewery. It was founded as
H. & R. Tennent in 1740 at Drygate Bridge, near
Glasgow Cathedral, by Hugh and Robert Tennent, although brewing had taken place at the same site on the banks of the
Molendinar Burn by their ancestor, Robert Tennent, since 1556, making it the oldest continuous commercial concern in Glasgow. Hugh Tennent's sons, John and Robert, continued the family business, trading as
J. & R. Tennent from 1769. The business expanded in the 1790s when the Tennent family purchased the neighbouring brewery of William McLehose, and renamed the site Wellpark Brewery. The firm originally brewed
stout and strong export
ales. By the mid-19th century, J. & R. Tennent was the world's largest
bottled beer exporter. Robert Tennent died in 1826 and John Tennent in 1827. Hugh Tennent (the eldest son of Robert) then assumed control of the business. Hugh Tennent retired in 1855 with his fifth son, Charles Tennent, taking over, but he died in 1864, some months before his father. The brewery was subsequently operated by trustees on behalf of Charles Tennent's sons, Archibald and Hugh. to beer in casks (1918) In 1884,
Hugh Tennent took control of the company and first brewed Tennent's lager in 1885. He later built a new lager brewery on the Wellpark site, which was begun in 1889 and completed in 1891. J. & R. Tennent produced the first
draught lager in 1924, the first
canned lager in 1935 and the first
keg lager in 1963. J. & R. Tennent was acquired by
Charrington United Breweries in 1963, and in 1966 formally merged with United Caledonian Breweries, Charrington's other Scottish subsidiary, to form Tennent Caledonian Breweries. The new company's brewing was concentrated at the Wellpark Brewery and the Heriot Brewery in Edinburgh. Wellpark was redeveloped between 1965 and 1968, but Heriot was demolished in the 1990s. In 1967, Charringtons merged with
Bass to form the Bass Charrington Group. It was later bought by the
Belgian brewer
Interbrew (now
InBev) in June 2000, which became part of
Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2008.
C&C Group of Ireland announced a deal to buy the brewery and the Tennent's brand from AB-InBev on 27 August 2009. It also agreed to acquire the Scottish and
Irish distribution rights to
Beck's and
Stella Artois as part of the £180 million offer. In May 2014, C&C Group and
Williams Bros Brewing Co. opened a craft brewery joint venture on the site, called Drygate Brewing Co., named after Drygate – a street which adjoins the western perimeter of the brewery. ==Beers==