Sport in London venue for the Boat Race, held between Oxford and Cambridge universities every year from Putney to Mortlake. In addition there are numerous rowing clubs in London based along the Thames, especially in the Putney area. More than twenty rowing clubs are based on the Thames at Putney Embankment; among the largest are London Rowing Club (the oldest, being established in 1856), Thames Rowing Club, University of London Boat Club, Imperial College Boat Club and Vesta Rowing Club. Leander Club owned a boathouse in Putney from 1867 to 1961. The Putney clubs have produced a plethora of Olympic medallists and Henley
Mortlake parish was "now connected with Barnes on one side and with New Richmond on the other". With the advent of motor transport, the buildings on Mortlake's winding high street, also known as the Lower Mortlake Road, have been mostly residential or used by the brewery. In the 1840s Charles James Philips and James Wigan acquired Mortlake Brewery, which had existed since the 15th century. In 1889 the brewery was acquired by James Watney & Co., which in 1898 became Watney Combe & Reid after acquiring Messrs. Combe Delafield and Co. and Messrs. Reid and Co. When Watney's Stag Brewery in