A major brewing company in Kent has been bought by one of the UK’s oldest craft brewers in a major industry swoop.

Ashford’s Curious Brewery has been snapped up by St Peter’s Brewery for an undisclosed sum.

St Peter’s Brewery was founded in 1996 by John Murphy and located alongside St Peter’s Hall in South Elham, near Bungay in Suffolk, making it one of the UK’s first craft breweries.

The firm finalised the purchase of Curious Brewery on September 29.

According to Company’s House, Curious’s head office is now in Bungay, Suffolk, at the same address as St Peter’s.

Five of the company’s six directors have left their posts following the move, including chairman Mark Crowther and managing director Simon George.

Matthew Anderson has maintained his position as Operation Director, joined by a further seven heads.

Curious Brewery was originally set up by Tenterden wine-maker Chapel Down.

However, after being hit by the enforced closure of pubs and hotels during the pandemic, it announced it was ditching the brand in February 2021.

It came less than two years after it unveiled a multi-million brewery and visitor centre close to Ashford International Station

The buyer of the brand was the private equity firm Risk Capital Partners (RCP) - led by entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

Vowing to build the brand, it appointed a string of senior figures in the drinks trade to help it progress as a standalone venture, and earlier this year it doubled in size after acquiring craft beer and pale ale firm the Wild Beer Company.

Wild Beer, based in Somerset, had gone into administration in December 2022.

Its beer range included Wild IPA and Pogo.

It even made a beer, Enso, made from wasps' yeast, but it came unstuck after 10 years due to a myriad of factors – including, bosses said, "Covid, loss of export sales, spiralling production costs, damaging inflation and an increase in interest rates".

A spokesperson for St Peter’s Group told KentOnline: “The seller has asked for no formal press announcement of the acquisition, but we can confirm that St Peter’s has acquired Curious Brewery Limited, which includes the Curious and Wild beer brands.

“The Curious brand was established in 2010 and moved into its current location in 2019.

“That same year it was named UK Brewer of the Year.

“St Peter’s CEO, Derek Jones, has taken over the helm at Curious Brewery with immediate effect.

“He has more than 20 years’ experience of the global beer industry. He has commented that this is an incredibly exciting new chapter for St Peter’s as the company builds a powerful portfolio of brands.

“It will have St Peter’s iconic bottles and multiple award-winning beers now sitting alongside extraordinary beers such as Curious Brew and Wild IPA, to name just a few of the great products in the Curious Brewery stable.”