Wenlock Brewery profits 1921 - 1929

Digging around in the newspaper archives, I've managed to find almost a complete set of profit figures for the 1920's for the Wenlock Brewery.

They show what I already knew: economic condition getting gradually better until 1929, the year of the Wall Street Crash. Wenlock seems to have been in pretty good shape from the middle of the decade, with profits increasing and money being set aside.  A dividend of at least 10% on the ordinary shares was paid every year. Not sure about the preference shares, as they aren't always mentioned in the newspaper reports. My guess would be that 5% was paid every year.

I've not looked at what happened in the 1930's yet, but I know the first few years were some of the most difficult of the interwar period, with beer production falling. I expect things won't look so rosy.

I must try to find out what a typical profit per barrel was. The two years I've looked at for Whitbread show a profit of 8 or 9 shillings per barrel. If Wenlock's profit per barrel were similar, they'd have been brewing around 250,000 barrels a year, which seems way too high.

Wenlock Brewery profits 1921 - 1929
	brought in	net profit	carry forward	to reserve	dividend ordinary shares	dividend preference shares
1921	£16,569	£30,313	£14,382		10%
1922
1923		£62,365		£15,000	10%
1924	£36,478	£72,105	£51,083	£25,000	10%
1925	£51,083	£84,198	£52,731	£50,000	10%	5%
1926	£52,731	£112,986	£83,267		10%
1927	£83,267	£119,201	£97,469		10% + 5% bonus
1928	£97,469	£122,047	£118,266		10% + 7.5% bonus	5%
1929	£118,266	£109,343	£126,359	£50,000	10% + 7.5% bonus
Sources:
Gloucester Citizen - Wednesday 22 December 1920, page 6.
Aberdeen Journal - Wednesday 10 December 1924, page 11.
Dundee Courier - Wednesday 10 December 1924, page 2.
Aberdeen Journal - Tuesday 08 December 1925, page 11.
Western Daily Press - Wednesday 09 December 1925, page 8.
Western Daily Press - Wednesday 08 December 1926, page 10.
Aberdeen Journal - Wednesday 07 December 1927, page 10.

As Wenlock hung around until the 1960's, we know they survived the 1930's. Many who entered the decade in worse shape didn't.

Wenlock Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1923

I can guess what you're thinking: thank god we've got to the letter "W". Not far to go now. Until I get started on Burton

Either that or you're saying: "Who knew London had so many breweries in the 1920's?" But I'm sure, if you've stuck the series out this far, relief that it will soon be over is your principal emotion.

The name Wenlock probably rings a bell because there's a famous beer pub which bears its name. Not sure if the pub is named after the street it's on, Wenlock Road, or the brewery which used to be a little to the south. On the map the Wenlock Arms is the pub at the top centre.

The Wenlock Brewery in 1896

I can't find a date for when the brewery was founded, just that in 1887 it was taken over by Glover, Bell & Co. and became the Wenlock Brewery Co. Ltd. in 1893*. According to Barber*, it was bought by Worthington for Bass in 1953, closing in 1962. While Richmond and Turton say it was bought by Bass in 1961, but agree that the year of closure was 1962**. In other cases when these sources have disagreed, Barber has turned out to be the more accurate.

You can see from the map that the Wenlock Brewery wasn't huge. Yet it features quite a bit in the Whitbread Gravity Book. More than you would expect. I can think of only one explanation: because it wasn't far from Chiswell Street (Whitbread's home). The two breweries were about a mile apart.

Once again, all the Milds this time are of the middle type. Ones that cost 6d in 1922, falling to 5d in 1923. The gravity hovers around the mid 1030's, but the high degree of attenuation gives an ABV of up to 4%. I'm left wondering whether this was the only Mild Wenlock brewed, or whether the others just weren't sampled.

Wenlock Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1923
Year	Beer	FG	OG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	Appearance	Flavour	Score
1922	X	1007	1033.6	3.51	80.36%	bright	sound	1
1922	X	1006	1037.2	4.09	84.41%		v fair	2
1922	X	1008	1031.9	3.14	75.86%	cloudy	fair	1
1922	X	1006	1032.3	3.39	80.80%	not quite bright	thin	-2
1922	X	1009	1035.5	3.40	73.80%	bright	v fair	2
1922	X	1009	1034.1	3.31	74.78%	bright	v fair	2
1922	X	1008	1034.8	3.44	76.15%	bright	v fair	2
1923	X	1007	1036.4	3.77	79.67%	bright	v fair	2
1923	X	1007	1037.3	3.97	81.77%	bright	thin	-2
1923	X	1006	1034.7	3.71	82.13%	bright	v good	3
1923	X	1008	1034.1	3.44	77.71%	bright	v fair	2
1923	X	1006	1033.7	3.64	83.09%	not quite bright	fair	1
	Average							1.17
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Eight of the twelve samples were bright. Possibly nine, as for one the entry is missing. Not too bad. But look at the flavour scores - only two negative and both for being thin. There's nothing really foul. And lots of pretty good samples, scoring a 2 or better. Leaving one of the best average scores so far: 1.17.

Why was their beer almost always in good condition? Did they train their landlords better? As these were cask beers, the responsibility for the state of them when served was primarily the publican's. An idiot could have made draught Bass taste crap.




* "A Century of British Breweries Plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, page 83.
** "The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records", edited by Lesley Richmond, Alison Turton, 1990, page 359.

Wenlock Brewery beers

The Wenlock Arms was voted London's best pub by visitors to Stonch's blog. It used to be the tap of the Wenlock Brewery, which closed in the early 1960's.

Stonch posted about the pub today and I thought "Wouldn't it be interesting to write about the Wenlock Brewery's beers." I've come across a few whilst trawling the Truman and Whitbread gravity books.

So here you are, a selection of Wenlock Brewery beers spanning the period 1940 to 1960.