Programme Eleven:  30.00

Whitbread & Company Ltd.  Interviews with Whitbread Head Brewer in Salford Chris Dempsey, together with Roger Parker and Norman Swarbrick.  Researcher Neil Richardson.

Chester’s Brewery Company Ltd, Ardwick Brewery, Princess Street, Ardwick. Chester’s merged with Threlfall’s Brewery Company Ltd in 1961 to form Threlfalls Chester’s Ltd.

Threlfall’s Brewery Company Ltd, 21 Truman Street & Cook Street, Salford. Whitbread & Company Ltd acquired the company in 1978 with 800 licensed houses.  Cook Street brewery closed in 1971 and Truman Street in 1982.

In 2000, Whitbread sold their remaining breweries to Belgium brewer Interbrew.  It is now arranging for the sale of its 3000 public houses (March 2001). Founder Samuel Whitbread must be turning in his grave.

Burtonwood Brewery Company Ltd, Bold Lane, Burtonwood, Cheshire.  Interviews are with Chairman Richard Gilchrist and Head Brewer John Merrony.  Researcher Neil Richardson.

Music:

‘I Likes a Drop of Good Beer’

‘The British Toper’

Programme Twelve:  30.13

Matthew Brown & Company Ltd, Lion Brewery, Coniston Road, Blackburn.  Interviews were recorded with Company Secretary John Edmondson and Nigel Fortnum.

In yet another acrimonious takeover, Scottish & Newcastle Breweries acquired the company in October 1987 with 550 licensed houses, after two previous bids for the brewery had been quashed by the MMC.  Brewing stopped in 1991 and the brewery closed, despite having declared in 1985 that the Blackburn brewery was ‘sacrosanct’,  a  pledge that swayed the MMC in its decision to allow the take-over to progress.

Oldham Brewery Company Ltd, Albion Brewery, Coldhurst Street, Oldham.  Interview with Director Tom Fallows. Oldham Brewery was taken-over by Boddingtons in 1982 with 87 tied houses and closed five years later.

Pollard & Company (J B Brewers) Ltd, the Brewery, Reddish Vale Industrial Estate, Reddish, Stockport.  Interview with David Pollard.  Pollards opened in 1975 and closed in April 1982.  They owned one public house and produced two beers:  John Barleycorn at 1036, and Best Mild 1034.

Music:

‘I Likes a Drop of Good Beer’

‘The British Toper’

‘The Malt’s Come Down’