thumb|Plaque marking former site of the Anchor Brewery.
The Anchor Brewery was a brewery in Park Street, Southwark, London, England. Established in 1616, by the early nineteenth century it was the largest brewery in the world. From 1781 it was operated by Barclay Perkins & Co, who in 1955 merged with the Courage Brewery, which already owned the nearby Anchor Brewhouse. The Park Street brewery was demolished in 1981.
History
thumbnail|Workmen at the Barclay Perkins Brewery by [[Gustave Doré (1872)]]
The brewery was established in 1616 by James Monger Sr. in Southwark, on land adjacent to the Globe Theatre. On his death, the brewery passed to his godson, James Monger Jr. They additionally paid her for permission to keep using the Thrale & Co name until 1795. In 1782, 85,700 barrels were brewed.
By 1809 the venture had an annual output of 260,000 barrels, making it the largest brewery in the world. The brewery produced exclusively porter until 1834, when it began to brew pale ale.
thumb|Plaque commemorating the attack on [[Julius Jacob von Haynau|General von Haynau while touring the brewery in 1850]]
A fire at the brewery in May 1832, caused £40,000 worth of damage, destroying many buildings and resulting in considerable rebuilding of the site. The new brewery attracted considerable interest: visitors included the Prince of Wales, the German statesman Otto von Bismarck, Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, the Austrian general Julius Jacob von Haynau, who was attacked by draymen while touring the brewery in 1850, and the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1864.
In 1867, Barclay Perkins brewed 423,000 barrels.
Barclay Perkins was an early adopter of lager production in the UK, with the Anchor brewing lager from 1922.