A pure guess on my part but a quick search on google yeilded this:

"The Arts Centre is housed in a lovely building, situated just off Highgate in the heart of Kendal. As the name suggests, the building used to be a brewery and dates back to 1858. Originally owned by the Whitwell family, the brewery was taken over by William Mark and became a private limited company (Whitwell, Mak and Co) in 1883. Finally the business was taken over by Vaux Breweries of Sunderland in the late 1940's. The Breweries' hey day was in the 1930's, when it was supplying 30 pubs across Westmorland with the famous 'Auld Kendal'.

Two years after the last brew was produced in September 1968, the building was bought by the Lake District Theatre Trust Limited who spent the next two years turning the Grade II listed building in to a modern arts centre. When the Brewery Arts and Community Centre first opened in 1972, it consisted of a small theatre and just two other rooms. "

Jon