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Introduction
It was once said that every city in Britain boasted at least one brewery.
That may have been true half a century ago, but thatÂ’s hardly
the case in the present day.Fifty years ago, Nottinghamshire had around
430 breweries, but today only one regional one survives: namely Hardy
& Hansons (H & H) of Kimberley.
Regrettably the Mansfield Brewery in the North of the county was closed
recently following a takeover bid in 2000 by West Midlands based Wolverhampton
& Dudley Breweries. Fortunately for NottinghamshireÂ’s real-ale
drinkersÂ’, several full-mash microbreweries (smaller versions
of the vast complexes like the Kimberley plant) now exist. Mention
Nottingham and breweries to most ex-Nottinghamians and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Ales and
Shipstones will probably be top of their list. Both are long gone
but their memories live on.
Shipstones Brewery
Continuing our look at Nottinghamshire breweries we now focus on good
old Shippo's. Shipstones Star Brewery in New Basford was established
by James Shipstone in 1852. It was known as the ‘Star’ brewery
because of the red illuminated star on top of the brewery tower. This
became a landmark on the Nottingham skyscape – it could be seen
from miles away by any traveller either visiting or passing by the
city via northern routes. The brewery remained
independent until Greenalls of Warrington purchased it in 1978. Initially
the Greenalls group made changes in the production of the bitter to
apparently ‘make it a more acceptable drink for the mass market’,
but still concentrated on advertising Shipstones as local bitter.
They sponsored Nottingham Forest FC and promoted ShippoÂ’s, as
the locals knew it, but this was eventually replaced by Labatts Lager
(Greenalls Canadian Lager). Greenalls now had
breweries at Nottingham, Warrington, Wem and Birmingham before their
brewery closure programme began – the first loss being Wem (beer
production transferred to Birmingham). Davenports in Birmingham was
next to close (production moved to Nottingham). During
1989/91 concerns were expressed over the quality of ShippoÂ’s
and a lack of marketing motivation behind the local product and a
new cask beer was brought into the area - Thomas Greenalls Original
Bitter, from the Warrington brewery. On 15
May 1990 the managing director of Greenalls Midlands wrote to confirm
that it was their intention to continue to promote both Davenports
and Shipstones, but as history states, no assurances were actually
given to the survival of the brewery! It was
noted that later that year the letterhead for Shipstones had been
replaced with the name Greenalls Midlands Ltd and pubs were being
re-signed bearing the Greenalls name, although these were largely
away from Nottingham. Finally on 31 August
1990 Greenalls announced cessation of all brewing – to become
retailers only and the Basford brewery was shut in early 1991. Beer
production contracted to Allied Lyons – initially being brewed
from Burton-upon-Trent then transferred to the Allied Brewery in Warrington,
and the rest as they say, is history.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery
Continuing the tour of Nottinghamshire's past greats we now move on
to Daybrook where we take a look at the now deceased ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery.
Founded in 1875 the Daybrook Brewery, famous for its gated frontage
and beer mat trademark bearing local legend Robin Hood firing his
arrow, remained independent until sold by the family owners to Scottish
& Newcastle (S&N), one of the National Brewers, in 1986. Initially
staunch ‘ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½Â’ drinkers detected small changes in bitter
production, apparently to bring the beer type more into line with
the general taste of other bitters produced by S&N. New ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Bitter
pump clips appeared retaining the link to Robin Hood and with ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
Mild being linked to Will Scarlet. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Bitter became sponsors of
Notts County FC but like the lager logos on the earlier Forest shirts,
County's were eventually replaced by adverts for McEwans Lager –
S&N Lager. Now S&N had breweries in Edinburgh, Newcastle,
Masham (once home of the famous Theakstons Old Peculiar strong ale),
Carlisle and Nottingham. The company was always known as ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Ales
but on the take-over called itself ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery. In 1991 it was noticed
that it was now trading under the name Younger, a division of S&N,
and re-signing of some pubs took place, mainly away from Nottingham.
Then, on 1 December 1992 the Commercial Director of Youngers confirmed
that the change was only cosmetic: "Candidly, the vast majority
of publicans outside Nottingham hadnÂ’t heard of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery will continue to be closely involved with the community
through sponsorships such as Notts County and the Nottingham Playhouse."
During 1993 Nottingham CAMRA expressed concerns over the desire to
only promote Theakston beers. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Mild also contracted out to local
rivals Mansfield Brewery and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ products were reduced to being effectively
only available to the East Midlands. Most of the ‘local’
management seemed to have been replaced by people brought in from
Scotland and all decisions appeared to be made from offices in Edinburgh.
Suddenly the Nottingham Playhouse was sponsored by Youngers not ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
and a marketing promotion in France at the time featured Youngers
beers of Nottingham, but there was no mention of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. Following this
it wasnÂ’t too long before the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Brewery at Daybrook was laid
to rest along side Shipstones Basford brewery.
Mansfield Brewery
Constructed in 1855, above what was once part of the North Notts coalfield,
Mansfield Brewery stood on the south side of this Nottinghamshire
market town. It was situated less than half a kilometre away from
Field Mill, home ground to the Stags, MansfieldÂ’s famous football
club. And before its closure, cask ale beer production was thriving
after being reintroduced at the brewery back in 1982, after a break
of ten years. Surprisingly enough though, trying
to find a pint of Mansfield cask ale in Mansfield was a challenge
in itself. One reason for this must have been due to the large number
of miners welfares, social clubs, and working menÂ’s clubs etc,
content on selling keg products at highly discounted prices. Sadly
a discount which the average pub tenant could not afford to offer
the drinker when it came to real ales. When
it was in business, Mansfield Brewery boasted an array of seasonal
beers such the ‘Deakins’ range’ sitting along side
relishing regulars like Old Baily and the quaffable Mansfield Bitter,
all brewed in traditional Yorkshire squares so as to appeal to the
taste buds of a wider audience outside of their traditional trading
area. But unfortunately, as part of the brewery
take-over by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W & D) in 2000,
Old Baily was quashed in order to make way for a marketing drive of
Marstons’ Pedigree, a cask ale of similar strength – at
the time the flagship beer of W & D – and beer production
was moved to Wolverhampton. There, the water was different, so the
taste that Mansfield drinkers were so accustomed too, changed. Then
followed the winding down of the other brands of what once was the
major employer in the area – and as history repeated it self
yet again, Mansfield Brewery, like so many others before it, was finally
laid to rest in 2002.
Hardy and Hansons
One traditional brewery, Hardy and Hansons, has survived to present
day, but smaller ones have sprouted up on a similar basis to the one-time
cottage industries. As implied earlier, just one regional family-owned
brewery is left in the county – Hardys & Hansons (H&H)
of Kimberley, which still remains independent. Several
real ales are brewed by ‘Kimberley’, as they are known amongst
local connoisseurs, but even they are now producing a non real mild,
presumably to cater for the younger drinkers who appear to be brainwashed
by the mass marketing campaigns suggesting that keg products are flavoursome
and are good for you! Lets hope that H&H
continue to produce the excellent range of cask conditioned products
in future years, along with the inter-twinned seasonal beers that
they brew periodically on an annual basis.
Microbreweries
Several microbreweries trade in Nottinghamshire. Most of these are
run on a similar basis to the one-time cottage industries, along much
the same lines that those breweries would have been operated all those
years ago – a small brewery plant, two or three members of staff,
and local regular outlets from where their beers are sold. |
