Congleton is known as the "Beartown" from an incident during Elizabethan times when bear baiting was a popular sport.
Many different story's are told about this and below are two of them

1.
Congleton became notorious in the sixteenth century when bear-baiting was a popular sport. Congleton owned an old and rather decrepit bear and was unable to attract large crowds to their bear-baiting contests, but also lacked the money to pay for a new and more aggressive bear. It did however have a sum of money saved to buy a new bible. The town decided to use the money in the bible fund to pay for a new bear, and then replenished it with the income from the increased number of spectators. However, when the story was reported to neighbouring towns, it got corrupted and the legend grew that Congleton had sold its bible in order to buy a new bear.

A song did the rounds of which the chorus ran:
The knob cheeses of Cheshire are famed,
but beware Of stories they tell of,
Congleton Rare Congleton Rare, Congleton Rare
They sold the Church Bible to buy a new bear.

From the time of this legend, Congleton has been nicknamed 'Beartown'.

2.
Rumour has it that the Congleton town bear died before the annual Wakes (annual town summer holiday when all industry shut down), so the towns people decided that money set aside to buy a new town bible should be used to buy a new bear so that the celebrations would not spoil

Congleton's love of bear baiting was long parodied in the rhyme:

'Congleton rare, Congleton rare, Sold the bible, To buy a bear'.

Which ever one you believe, one thing for sure is that the bear was replaced and the money that was set aside for the bible did buy another bear. The one thing that has not been told, how good the new bear was!!

The brewery is situated in Congleton, so the name of Beartown was adopted by virtue of this history.

In the year 1272 the town was granted a charter to hold fairs and markets which gave it borough status.

At this time, the most senior positions within the borough were those of the Mayor, the Ale Taster and the Bear Warden. The Ale Taster was employed to ensure that all the ale produced in the local 'ale shoppes' was of a drinkable quality, and the Bear Warden had the job of procuring a fighting bear for the various fairs and celebrations which took place within the town.

Beartown Brewery, founded in 1994, is a South Cheshire craft brewery, producing a range of quality and distinctive cask conditioned ales.

The brewery uses only traditional brewing methods and selects the highest quality malted grains and whole hops to ensure a wholesome and completely natural product.