This brewery was established in 1807.
It was amalgamated with the Delph Brewery of Brierley Hill in 1896 to form the
Worcestershire Brewing and Malting Company Ltd. This was not a successful venture and, in
a bid to save shareholder's investment, the company was restructured - the name was
changed in 1904 to the Kidderminster Brewery Co.Ltd. Brewing ceased at the Blackwell
Street site in 1914, a year after the company was acquired
by
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.
The Hanson's story started in 1847 in
the town's Priory Street. Julia Hanson was the daughter of maltster and victualler John
Mantle of the Saracen's Head in Stone Street. In 1846 she married Thomas Hanson, a wine
and spirit merchant from King's Bromley. During the following year the couple established
a wine and spirit business in Priory Street. By the end of the decade Thomas Hanson had
formed a partnership with William Hughes, a local pub owner and maltster.
Together they traded as Hughes and Hanson. When Thomas Hanson died his
wife Julia took charge of the business and moved to premises in Upper
Tower Street. Her sons William and Thomas worked in two of the company's
pubs to gain valuable experience. Julia Hanson died at the age of 78 in
1874 and her sons took over the family concern. Within 12 months they
acquired the old Peacock Hotel and Brewery in Dudley's Upper High
Street. They redeveloped the site in 1897 and five years later
registered as Julia Hanson & Sons Ltd. By this time the company had an
extensive tied estate of almost 100 pubs throughout the Black Country.
William Hanson succeeded his older brother Thomas as managing director
following his death in May 1919. Soon after this the company acquired
the brewery and tied estate of the Kidderminster brewer Frederick Tandy.
In the following decade Hanson's bought out
Smith and Williamsand
gained a further 60 public houses that opened new markets in
Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The company were however bought out
by
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. in 1943. W&DB had steadily bought shares in Hanson's before they
gained a controlling interest in 1943. It was not the end of Hanson's. The brewery and
pubs retained a degree of autonomy and the Hanson's livery can still be found on many of
the old boozers. Sadly however, the brewery closed in the early 1990's and production was
moved to Wolverhampton. The brewery's site was cleared for a Netto
supermarket - and Dudley has never smelled the same again.
Based at the Lowesmoor Brewery in
Worcester, this company had only registered the year before as a subsidiary of the
Chipping Norton firm of Hitchman & Co.Ltd. In 1924 the company, along with 13 public
houses, were acquired by
Hunt, Edmunds & Co.Ltd. of Banbury.
The Diamond Brewery of Hutchin's and
Jackson was located at Cromwell Street in Kate's Hill, Dudley. Owned by Joseph Plant, the
business was well established by 1899. The firm was advertised for sale in the Dudley
Advertiser on June 15th 1901. The sale included two pubs along with the brewery tap which
operated as an off licence. The brewery plant was described as almost new and 5 quarters
in size with a capacity of around 240 barrels per week. The two pubs were the Loving Lamb
Inn at Kate's Hill and the Black Horse in Dudley's Upper High Street. The partnership of
Hutchin's and Jackson bought the business and retained the name of the Diamond Brewery. By
1912 John Jackson had bought out his partner and slowly developed the business. By 1920 he
went into partnership with Percy Crowhurst, a man who owned several pubs in the area. The
company's tied estate had grown to 15 when they were acquired by
Darby's Breweryof Greet's Green, West Bromwich. They were, in turn, bought
by
Mitchell's and Butler's in
1951.
In 1896 this brewery was registered as
the Worcestershire Brewing and Malting Company Ltd. to amalgamateby
Bucknall's Breweryof
Kidderminster and the
Delph Brewery at Brierley Hill. The two companies combined had an
estate of 126 public houses. The company's name was changed in 1904 to the Kidderminster
Brewery Co.Ltd. Brewing ceased at the Blackwell Street site in 1914, a year after the
company was acquired by
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.
With production based at both Round Oak
and Stourbridge breweries, this company had an extensive estate of public houses because
it was formed out of several other smaller firms. The NWB, as it was known, was registered
in May 1896 when the Stourbridge Brewery amalgamated with the Round Oak Brewery of
Brierley Hill, the White Swan Brewery in Oldbury and the Rowley Brewery in
Blackheath. The company supplied a tied estate of 135 pubs by the time
it was acquired by
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. in 1910.
Part
of the brewery buildings of William
Oliver's enterprise can still be found next to the Talbot Hotel, a pub he also built in
the late 19th century. Indeed, the brewery was called the Talbot Brewery and supplied a
number of public houses in the Black Country. The malthouse for the brewery was across the
road in Chapelhouse Lane. Registered in December 1915, the Talbot Brewery was acquiredby
Darby's Breweryof Greet's Green, West Bromwichin 1937.
This
brewery can be traced back to the mid-1830's when William Round opened a
beer house
called the Cottage Spring Inn fronting the High Street at Netherton. His
homebrewed ales proved popular, encouraging him to increase
production to supply other pubs in the locality. Over a number of years
the site behind the pub developed with a new brewery building and a
malthouse. Following William Round's death around 1849, sons Samuel and
James took over the business. They proved to be as successful as their
father and expansion of the brewery continued. Borrowing from the
success of beers produced in Burton-on-Trent, the brothers introduced a
Union Fermentation System at Netherton - quite a Black Country brewing
revolution. Samuel later bought out his brother's share in the business
and, following his death in 1872, bequeathed much of the business to his
son Jabez. Judging simply from his age, Jabez was still wet behind the
ears and, in 1875, he sold the business to Thomas Plant. Born in
Brierley Hill
in 1844, Thomas Plant moved the business forward. He was constantly on
the lookout for another retail outlet in which he could sell the beers
produced at the Steam Brewery behind the Cottage Spring Inn. At one time
a range of sixteen different beers were being produced by the company.
Thomas Plant died in 1896 and, with no son to succeed him, the firm
stumbled on in the hands of his executors. John
Shaw was appointed as manager in 1901, a date that coincided with the
registration of the company. Thomas Plant & Co.Ltd. was acquired by the
Hereford and Tredegar Brewery Ltd.
in 1912 and the brewery was closed two years later. However, with John
Shaw at the helm again, production was restarted in 1915. The Steam
Brewery was producing beers for a tied estate of 63 public houses by the
time
Ansell's
acquired the business in 1936. The brewery was finally closed in 1947
and demolished in the following decade.
The Five Ways Brewery of John Rolinson
and Son first opened around 1835 as a homebrew house run by Thomas Penbury. John Rolinson
was not the licensee until 1877. Joined by his son Daniel in 1885 the business began to
grow slowly. John Rolinson could hardly be described as an aggressive expansionist - he
simply bought other local properties as and when they came onto the market. He died at the
age of 74 on January 13th 1896. Son Daniel had to raise a mortgage to keep control of the
brewery and tied estate. He became a Dudley Town Councillor in 1896 but made several
inexplicable business decisions that caused much concern among the board. Edwin John
Thompson of Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries was brought in to steady the ship. Daniel
Rolinson went his own way buying pub of inordinate size or in odd locations - he even
acquired one in Bodmin before he was declared bankrupt in August 1910. He ended up working
at the Green Dragon in Dudley until his death in 1920. The brewery he left continued to
wobble and eventually folded in 1925. The tied estate of 59 public houses was taken over
by
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.
This company was based at the Victoria
Brewery in Dudley's Hall Street. The brewery was founded in 1873 by John Dawes, licensee
of the Lamp Tavern in Hall Street. Once he got established and enjoyed some success he
leased a second pub - the Seven Stars Inn on the High Street. He also bought two more
beerhouses in Wolverhampton Street and Charlotte Street respectively. John Dawes'
expansion plans may have been too ambitious for he found himself in financial difficulties
by 1880. It was at the creditors meeting held on December 8th 1880 that George Thompson
bought the estate of John Dawes for 2/6d in the pound. He later acquired the Dudley
Brewery, also located in Hall Street and these two businesses formed the newly-created
Dudley and Victoria Breweries. This company would form part
of
Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.when it registered in 1890. Members of the Thompson family have remained at
the helm of W&DB since the 19th century.