For more than a decade it’s been the jewel in The Crown: An award-winning brewery that’s won multiple awards and drawn real ale drinkers from well beyond Woking.

But the tap is about to run dry at Thurstons with brewer, John Mintram, pulling no punches as he prepares to call last orders at his Horsell business.

“We survived austerity, Covid and the cost of living crisis but not Rachel Thieves and the Labour government,” said Mr Mintram, who took his first steps into brewing at the pub nearly 14 years ago.

“It’s just one thing after another – National Insurance rises, beer duty rises, the cost of resources. It’s just got harder and harder and it’s got to the point where it’s just not economical anymore.”

John reckoned there were “four more brews” to go when he spoke to the News & Mail last Thursday, with the last potentially taking place during the coming week.

And what should have been a 14th birthday celebration could be a solemn moment as the first brew was completed at the brewery behind the pub on May 9, 2012.

“We’re looking at the beginning of May, that’s when we’ll be brewed out,” said John, whose brews include Horsell Gold, Milk Stout and Un-American Pale Ale.

“Everyone has been very kind. People have said ‘surely we can get together and raise money’ but it’s not as easy as that. I’d be looking at charging £150 a firkin, and that would mean £8 a pint, possibly.”

Fittingly, the story of Thurstons began in the pub when John was encouraged to get into brewing following a chance encounter with a friend who studied the process at Heriot-Watt University. The first batch was given away as it couldn’t be sold, but the results were so good it encouraged John to produce more.

He said: “We didn’t set out to open a brewery.

“I was looking for a USP for The Crown because we didn’t do food. I thought it would be a craic to make a beer here occasionally and we made our first beer in the kitchen.

Work began on setting up a brewery behind the pub in early 2014 and there was talk of getting a purpose-built building on Kestrel Way before Covid came along.

But even before then the path was being muddied due to problems with red tape, licensing, registration, duty, HMRC and environmental health.

John said: “We’ve had to jump through so many hoops.

“Anyone running a business is getting bogged down by the demands from government and HMRC, especially those with duty to pay.

“It’s just got too much.”