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It's still the mid-1950's here at SUABP. I can smell the the coal smoke and feel the smog settling around me. What fun.

Today I've got some surprising numbers harvested from the Barclay Perkins archives. Fascinating stuff about the relative sales of each of their products.


Barclay Perkins output by beer 1956
Beer
style
barrels
%
XX
Mild
45,043
19.63%
X
Mild
2,598
1.13%
DBA
Brown Ale
37,603
16.38%
PA FEST
Best Bitter
1,018
0.44%
PGA


9,308
4.06%
PA (T)
Best Bitter
23,608
10.29%
XLK
Bitter
13,562
5.91%
IPA
IPA
27,661
12.05%
KKKK
Strong Ale
872
0.38%
KK (B)
Old Ale
3,946
1.72%
KK (T)
Burton
2,715
1.18%
IBS EX
Russian Stout
686
0.30%
BBS EX
Export Stout
77
0.03%
LS
London Stout
14,327
6.24%
Lager
Lager
46,486
20.25%
Total


229,510


Source:
Document ACC/2305/1/675 held at the London Metropolitan Archives
Note:
year ending March 31st


See what the big surprise is? The biggest seller is Lager, outselling even draught Mild. Brown Ale also makes an unexpectedly strong showing, only a little behind Mild. And the poor performance of XLK, long one of their mainstays, is a shock.

This was a pivotal moment for Barclay Perkins, being exactly when it merged (taken over, really) by Courage. What happened later to the brewery is less surprising. About a decade later Ale production ceased and it became a dedicated Lager brewery, churning out lots of luvverly Harp for London chavs. A sad end for a great Porter brewery.

The total number of barrels brewed tells its own tale. Those 229,000 barrels look pretty sad compared with Barclay Perkins output in their glory years:

1810 235,100
1815 337,600
1850 397,360
1900 589,201
1914 845,857

That probably explains why they fell victim to a takeover: declining sales.


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