John Bull commercial from 1981

The Star Brewery was a brewery located at Romford, England. For much of its history it has been a main industry in the area and a significant employer.   It was closed in 1993  and its former site has been redeveloped as a shopping centre, named The Brewery, which opened in 2001.   The brewery produced John Bull Bitter.

 History

The brewery was founded in 1708 by Benjamin Wilson as an attachment to the Star Inn on the High Street (then the main road to the City of London) and beside the River Rom.   The brewery was purchased by Edward Ind in 1799, becoming part of Ind Smith; from 1845 the company was known as Ind Coope. Romford railway station was opened to the south of the site in 1839 and was responsible for its considerable later expansion. By 1908 it had its own railway sidings and employed 450 workers; by 1970 it occupied 20 acres (81,000 m²) and had 1,000 workers.   The brewery was closed in 1993 and demolished. The site was redeveloped in 2001 as the The Brewery shopping centre, with one of the 160 foot (50 m) chimneys incorporated into the design.

Info gleaned from Wikipedia