There's one which was only around for a few years and disappeared pretty much without trace. This seems to have been the fate of many new breweries. I suppose that's typical of new enterprises in any field.
Another managed to last for more than 40 years. Which is a pretty good run. The last one is sill brewing, but, in the intervening years, closed and restarted twice.
Cotleigh
Tiverton.
Devon.
Founded: 1979
Closed: 2021
Tied houses: 0
One of the early breweries that had more legs than most, lasting over forty years. Though not in Tiverton. In 1980, they moved to Wiveliscombe. Did I ever drink their beer? Not that I can remember. Some Cotleigh brands are still brewed by Nuttycombe.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Tawny Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1042 |
Goose Eye
Oakworth/Keighley,
West Yorkshire.
Founded: 1978/1985/1991
Closed: 1982/1988/still open
Tied houses: 0
A brewery with multiple closures and restarts. Along with a change in location from Oakworth to Keighley in 1991. I’m surprised that they’re still going. Prety sure that I drank beer from the first iteration.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Goose Eye Bitter | Pale Ale | draught | 1038 | creamy & well hopped |
| Mild | Mild | draught | 1034 | flavoursome |
| Old Three Laps | Old Ale | draught | 1052 | dark & strong |
Kelly
Hurworth, Darlington,
Co. Durham.
Founded: 1979
Closed: 1983
Tied houses: 0
Kelly doesn’t seem to have been a brewer that made much of an impact. I can’t remember ever hearing of them. I assume that they had very limited distribution in the Northeast of England.
| beer | style | format | OG | description |
| Kelly's Golden Bitter (KGB | Pale Ale | draught | 1045 |
Posts
3 comments:
Interesting. You, Ron, are the Historian, not me. As I am from the valleys of South Wales, good old Hancocks are always prominent for me though I was only a nipper when they were absorbed by Bass Charrington so I never drank any. However, Hancocks began their brewing not in South Wales but in Wiveliscombe, Somerset. So it is pleasing to learn today that another brewery had a short life in the same place. I live in Mexico with zero plans to return to Blighty but Wiveliscombe sounds like a place worth a visit for oddballs like me.
I take it back that these new generation breweries in the 1970’s and 1980’s did not brew mild ale.
Makes me wonder whether Burton Bridge were brewing mild in their earliest years.
Oscar
They did. Although it was initially just the bitter with added caramel.
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