Whitwell, Mark and Co ("The House of Whitwell") established a wine business on Highgate in Kendal in 1757, with cellars said to hold over 40,000 gallons of wine. In 1853 the company built a new ale brewery in the garden of the Georgian town house that still fronts the Brewery buildings on Highgate.

By 1900 Whitwell Marks' Kendal was one of the town's largest employers and best known industries.

In 1946 the firm was taken over by Vaux Breweries of Sunderland and in 1971, when they relocated the offices, the town house became a Youth Hostel and the industrial buildings began the conversion into the Brewery Arts Centre which is still going strong today.