Hawkstone Brewery sits on College Farm, just off the Stow Road outside Bourton-on-the-Water, and it is one of the more unlikely growth stories in the modern Cotswolds. What began as a small regional lager brewery has, in the space of a few years, become a fast-growing national drinks brand with its own dedicated fanbase — helped in no small part by its most famous shareholder.
From Cotswold Brew Co to Hawkstone
The brewery started life as the Cotswold Brewing Company, founded in the mid-2000s by Richard and Emma Keene, who set out to make proper German-style lager in a part of the world better known for its ales. Their first release, Cotswold Premium, built a loyal local following and, over the following decade and a half, a reputation as one of the best small breweries in the region.
Everything changed in 2021, when Jeremy Clarkson and entrepreneur Johnny Hornby bought a significant stake in the business, initially to help launch Hawkstone Lager — brewed using barley grown on Clarkson’s own Diddly Squat Farm. The following year the brewery itself was rebranded from Cotswold Brew Co to Hawkstone. Richard Keene remains a shareholder; Emma Keene has since left the business. The gamble paid off spectacularly: Hawkstone was named one of the UK’s hundred fastest-growing private companies by The Sunday Times in both 2024 and 2025, with sales climbing from £7.8 million to £21.3 million in the year to March 2025 alone.
The range has grown well beyond the original lager to include Hawkstone Black, Hawkstone Cider, the blackberry-and-blackcurrant Hawkstone Hedgerow, a hawthorn, verbena and lime gin (distilled under licence at Thames Distillers in London), and a vodka made in partnership with the Woodbrothers Distillery. The brewery building itself, built of honey-coloured Cotswold stone, offers two-hour tours through the summer months, taking in the working brewery and a full tasting.
The Hawkstone Arms
The brewery’s own pub and taproom, the Hawkstone Arms, is where most visitors end up. It has the tongue-in-cheek, no-nonsense personality you would expect from a Jeremy Clarkson venture: a proper beer garden, a rotating cast of street food vendors (burgers from Mooba are a regular and reliably excellent fixture), and live music on Friday and Saturday evenings. It is thoroughly dog-friendly, and the full Hawkstone range is on tap alongside bottles to take away or ship home — regulars can even sign up as a “Hawkstonian” for a monthly drinks delivery.
Opening times: Monday to Thursday, 11am–6pm; Friday and Saturday, 11am–9pm; Sunday, 12pm–7pm.
A Word on the Approach
Here is the part nobody quite prepares you for: the track into Hawkstone Brewery is, by the consistent account of visitors, properly rough — the sort of farm lane that tests a car’s suspension long before it tests its steering. For a business built around the reputation of a man who spent two decades telling television audiences that a car’s ride quality was a matter of near-religious importance, there is something quietly hilarious about the drive in. Whatever is happening behind the scenes at Hawkstone, smoothing the entrance track does not appear to be top of the priority list — which either means Jeremy Clarkson has developed a secret contempt for the motor car in his retirement, or, more likely, that a hardy farm track is exactly the kind of thing a working Cotswold farm is supposed to have. Either way: go gently, and perhaps leave the low-slung sports car at the property.
Planning Your Visit
Hawkstone Brewery and the Hawkstone Arms are found at College Farm, Stow Road, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, GL54 2HN, a short drive from the centre of the village. Bourton-on-the-Water itself is well worth combining with a visit, with its river-crossed high street, the Model Village, Birdland and the Cotswold Motoring Museum all close by. Brewery tours run through the summer and are worth booking ahead, as is a table at busier weekend evenings when the live music is on.
Where to Stay Nearby
Hawkstone Brewery sits within easy reach of several of our collections around Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold and the surrounding villages, including the Kingham Cottages Collection and the Temple Guiting Collection. For a fuller sense of what is available nearby, our full portfolio of Cotswold properties can be filtered by location.
However you choose to base yourselves, our concierge team can arrange a brewery tour or a table at the Hawkstone Arms as part of a wider stay — just be sure to warn your driver about the track.
In Short
Hawkstone has gone from a well-liked regional lager brewery to a genuinely national drinks brand in the space of a few years, and its Bourton-on-the-Water taproom remains a properly good, unpretentious afternoon or evening out — dog under the table, street food in hand, pint of something cold brewed a few yards away. Just budget an extra five minutes, and a little patience, for the drive in.
If you are planning a stay nearby, enquire with our team and we will help you build a visit to Hawkstone around the right property for your group.
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