Simon Whitmore, Founder of Butcombe and former MD of Courage Western and prior to that with Guinness Worldwide, set up Butcombe Brewery in old farm buildings at his family home in Butcombe, 10 miles south of Bristol, in September 1978. He used his £24, 000 redundancy payment from Courage to convert the buildings, and buy most of the brewery equipment from Allied Breweries surplus plant department in Burton-on-Trent