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. | |||
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10 comments:
I've only had Ruddles within the last fifteen years or so but agree completely: sweet and cloying and one dimensional. Never understood how it managed such a cult following in the 1970s, I assumed it must have tasted better then
I know of Harvey’s, Theakstons, Bathams and Holdens. The closest we have to such a system in Ireland is Galway Bay brewery which owns just over 10 pubs.
Oscar
Some of these breweries could be grateful that they were so small, it prevented them from becoming prey for bigger brewers. Maclays is a case in point. It survived so long as an independent because it was too small to be worth taking over in the consolidation of the 1960s.
Makes you wonder whether Bathams or Taylors would be around today if they had been more “successful” 50 years ago.
I think I first sampled Ruddle’s in Becky’s Dive Bar in the early 70s, when it was a real novelty. The bitter was OK, though not particularly memorable, but I agree about County being sweet and cloying – it certainly wasn’t to my taste. I drank beer from most of the breweries Ron mentions, and, at the risk of sounding heretical, Batham’s came pretty low down the list. I haven’t had Batham’s Bitter for years, but usually tried it during regular visits to the midlands in the 70s and 80s. It was OK, but I did wonder what all the fuss was about. And I thought the mild was thin and bland: on a par perhaps with the underwhelming Young’s Mild (“Best Malt Ale”), but not a patch on Banks’s and Hanson’s. Of the breweries listed, I would put Harvey’s and Yates and Jackson at the top.
I used to love Ruddles County, alas it's now a poor imitation of its former self, Green King brew a version, 4.3%, nowhere near the depth of flavor of the original beer.
As with all the beers Greed King brew,even there own Abbot & IPA they are pale imitations of there former selves
It doesn't quite fit your seventies timneline, but the Trough Brewery in Bradford had up to 10 tied houses from 1981 to 1993. They were brewing with malt extract like a home brewer might.
I was in the Blue Anchor (Stingo land) in Helston on a market day, so open all day, in the summer of 1974. Coming from Surrey all I knew was fizz mega breweries like Watneys, Charringtons and Ind Coupe. So imagine my surprise to be in a pub that brewed its own beer in its own back yard and served it only from the wood. The Anchor was packed out. Then an old bloke came in, looking a bit worse for wear and asked for a pint of all sorts?. One of the bar staff took out all the beer trays under the pumps and poured the dregs that had collected into a pint glass which the old bloke got for half the price of a normal pint. Was this normal in proper pubs of the time?
Bathams still a legend in the West Midlands. When a non Batham house manages to get the occasional barrel it always sells out within an hour.
One of my first pints back in 1978, I still remember where and when, that's how good it was,agree with you now.A completely different beer!
Completely agree with you not the same drink.The old County OG1050
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