A member of The Guinness Partnership, Guinness South’s history dates back to the 19th Century.  Today it continues to provide good quality, affordable homes and services in London, South East England, the East of England and the south Midlands.

The Guinness South timeline

1890

Edward Cecil Guinness, great grandson of the founder of the Guinness Brewery gave £250,000 to set up The Guinness Trust.  The first weekly rents were 6p for one room, but they didn’t have bathrooms or kitchens.

1921

The first Government-funded Guinness Trust estate was built at Kennington Park Road.  They were the first Trust flats built with separate bathrooms in each flat – a condition of the funding.

1950s

The 1950s saw a big rise in tenant expectations.  Sink units and hot water were fitted into each home.

1960s

In the 1960s The Guinness Trust started to work outside London.

1985

Midsummer Housing Association is created (originally named Milton Keynes Housing Association).  Midsummer specialised in providing shared ownership homes and by 2006, owns or manages 4,500 homes.

1999

Clapton Community Housing Trust (CCHT) is created by a stock transfer from the London Borough of Hackney.  CCHT then joins the Guinness Trust Group, as it was then, in April 2001.

2006

Midsummer joins the Guinness Trust Group, which becomes The Guinness Partnership in 2007 when Northern Counties Housing Association sign up as a member.  The Partnership now manages a combined total of over 50,000 homes.

2010

Guinness South is created through the amalgamation of Guinness Midsummer and Clapton Community Housing Trust and takes on the management of 10,000 Guinness Trust homes in the South East.

Guinness South then gets to work, owning or managing 17,000 homes in the south east of England.