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28-01-2024, 07:32
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/01/local-brewers-in-1973.html)
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A handful of brewpubs had struggled into the 1970s, brewing on the smallest scale imaginable. Others owned just a handful of pubs. Bathams is a good example. And there was a surprising number of brewers with fewer than 50 pubs: 31 in 1973.
How many of these breweries’ beers did I get to try? Nineteen, if my memory serves me correctly. Standouts? Batham, obviously. Top-class beers back then, top-class beers today.
The two Lancaster breweries, Yates & Jackson and Mitchells, were pretty solid. I remember serving the former at the Great British Beer Festival. More beers that were in excellent condition and formed a tight head served straight from the cask.
Paine’s beers? Nothing special, in my memory. Hartleys, on the other hand, brewed excellent stuff. Including a tasty Best Bitter called XB. Maclay’s I got to drink in their one tied house in Edinburgh. And was convinced that 60/- was Dark Mild. How wrong was I? I’m still not sure. Lovely beer, whatever.
I never got why Ruddles beers were so popular. Too sweet and cloying for my taste, even Blue, the 3% ABV Bitter. As for County, I couldn’t drink more than a pint. And that was a struggle.
End of personal memories. Back to the factual stuff.
These small tied estates were usually geographically limited to a small radius around the brewery. Though there were sometimes random pubs miles from the brewery. Houses obtained for obscure reasons.
The three Channel Island breweries – Randall (Guernsey), Randall (Jersey) and Guernsey –Castletown of the Isle of Man and Burt on the Isle of Wight had no pubs on mainland Britain. With their estates being restricted to the island on which they were located. Which would account for their limited size.
Ruddles sold off most of their tied estate to finance expansion. A decision which eventually came back to bite them on the bum.
Sadly, a majority of these breweries, including Ruddles, have since closed.
Breweries with fewer than 50 tied houses in 1973
brewery
no. tied houses
brewery
no. tied houses
Cook
0
Paine
24
Hoskins
1
Belhaven
25
All Nations
1
Beard
26
Blue Anchor
1
Hartleys
28
Three Tuns
1
Timothy Taylor
28
Ma Pardoes's Old Swan
1
Rayment
31
Traquair House
1
Melbourns
32
Selby
2
Hook Norton
34
Batham
8
Maclay
34
Holden
8
Castletown
36
Burt
11
Yates & Jackson
43
Theakston
16
Ruddle
44
Donnington
17
Guernsey
45
Randall (Guernsey)
17
Mitchells
47
Simpkiss
17
Total pubs
623
Randall (Jersey)
20
Total breweries
31
Harvey
24
Source:
The Beer Drinker's Companion by Frank Baillie, 1974.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/01/local-brewers-in-1973.html)
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A handful of brewpubs had struggled into the 1970s, brewing on the smallest scale imaginable. Others owned just a handful of pubs. Bathams is a good example. And there was a surprising number of brewers with fewer than 50 pubs: 31 in 1973.
How many of these breweries’ beers did I get to try? Nineteen, if my memory serves me correctly. Standouts? Batham, obviously. Top-class beers back then, top-class beers today.
The two Lancaster breweries, Yates & Jackson and Mitchells, were pretty solid. I remember serving the former at the Great British Beer Festival. More beers that were in excellent condition and formed a tight head served straight from the cask.
Paine’s beers? Nothing special, in my memory. Hartleys, on the other hand, brewed excellent stuff. Including a tasty Best Bitter called XB. Maclay’s I got to drink in their one tied house in Edinburgh. And was convinced that 60/- was Dark Mild. How wrong was I? I’m still not sure. Lovely beer, whatever.
I never got why Ruddles beers were so popular. Too sweet and cloying for my taste, even Blue, the 3% ABV Bitter. As for County, I couldn’t drink more than a pint. And that was a struggle.
End of personal memories. Back to the factual stuff.
These small tied estates were usually geographically limited to a small radius around the brewery. Though there were sometimes random pubs miles from the brewery. Houses obtained for obscure reasons.
The three Channel Island breweries – Randall (Guernsey), Randall (Jersey) and Guernsey –Castletown of the Isle of Man and Burt on the Isle of Wight had no pubs on mainland Britain. With their estates being restricted to the island on which they were located. Which would account for their limited size.
Ruddles sold off most of their tied estate to finance expansion. A decision which eventually came back to bite them on the bum.
Sadly, a majority of these breweries, including Ruddles, have since closed.
Breweries with fewer than 50 tied houses in 1973
brewery
no. tied houses
brewery
no. tied houses
Cook
0
Paine
24
Hoskins
1
Belhaven
25
All Nations
1
Beard
26
Blue Anchor
1
Hartleys
28
Three Tuns
1
Timothy Taylor
28
Ma Pardoes's Old Swan
1
Rayment
31
Traquair House
1
Melbourns
32
Selby
2
Hook Norton
34
Batham
8
Maclay
34
Holden
8
Castletown
36
Burt
11
Yates & Jackson
43
Theakston
16
Ruddle
44
Donnington
17
Guernsey
45
Randall (Guernsey)
17
Mitchells
47
Simpkiss
17
Total pubs
623
Randall (Jersey)
20
Total breweries
31
Harvey
24
Source:
The Beer Drinker's Companion by Frank Baillie, 1974.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2024/01/local-brewers-in-1973.html)