Joss Ridley started running The Compasses, Littley Green in March 2008, 3 years after Ridley’s, The Essex Brewer, was sold to Greene King.

The closing of Ridley’s brewery hit the family quite hard. At the time Joss was an accountant in London rushing around in the rat race. After some thinking time in New Zealand he realised how important his heritage was and it was then that he took the leap of leaving London to get back to what his name represented in Essex. What better pub to be the landlord of than The Compasses known as The Ridley’s Brewery Tap, a stone’s throw away from the Hartford End brewery.