Monday 11 January 2016

Guinness’s Park Royal Brewery in 1949 – general layout

The brewery at Park Royal had a rather unusual layout. Which is probably worth mentioning.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw031549

In contrast to a classic Victorian tower brewery, each of the departments was housed in its own block. The blocks being arranged in a row.

“The buildings are generally designed and constructed in five large monolithic blocks on a line running roughly north to south, the front of the buildings presenting an attractive prospect from Western Avenue. The main buildings are supported on reinforced concrete piles 14 in. square varying in length from 35 ft. to 45 ft., each pile carrying a load of about 45 tons. The plant and machinery are carried on a braced steel-framed structure on the outside of which is a second framing anchored to the main frame supports and carrying the wall and brickwork panelling.”
Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 55, Issue 5, 1949, page 279.

Here’s a diagram of the layout:



It was indeed an attractive set of buildings, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott. It’s a disgrace that they were simply demolished.


"Park Royal Guinness Brewery during demolition December 2005". Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Park_Royal_Guinness_Brewery_during_demolition_December_2005.jpg#/media/File:Park_Royal_Guinness_Brewery_during_demolition_December_2005.jpg

3 comments:

StuartP said...

It looks like they has a cricket pitch and tennis courts, too.
Nice.

Oblivious said...

One of my wife's best friends was the company secretary for Guinness (Diageo) at the time and was heavily involved in the park royal closure

sunburnt said...

Used to play cricket on that ground. They put on a good tea and had a cheap bar! Sadly missed.