Forgotten Beers

[The Large One]

I'm going back much earlier than 15 years ago - late sixties/early seventies.

Even in those days, there was certainly something lethal on sale in the Northern. I remember a group of us being BANNED from there in 1970 after an over-enthusiastic celebration of a mate's 21st birthday. I take these punishments seriously and haven't set foot in the place since.

My late mum wnet LOOPY at me when I was about 17 or 18 after coming in from only having had four pints of Hurlimann in the Northern.

She and Dad were out when I got back, and I went to bed. I was woken up a short while later by her screaming several kinds of 'I'll kill that little shit...' at the top of her voice. Apparently, I'd thrown up on the settee and just got up and gone to bed. I say apparently cos I had no memory of doing so, and still don't to this day...

I avoided the stuff for about 10 years before having another couple. It damn near knocked me out again. There must be something in it - the likes of drain cleaner or rat poision...

 

[andybaha]

Ben Truman.

My favourite pint as a teenager. 'A Dubonnet and lemonade and a pint of Ben please'. 'Certainly that will be 75p please'. Those were the days.

Was it a bitter? I remember it tasting quite mellow. I wonder if it is still available somewhere obscure like the Fisher Athletic social club.

There is a pub in Walworth in South London called the Ben Truman.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Gales Prize Old Ale (9%) - mmmm... lovely stuff and in a corked bottle.

George Gales Cans - Prize Old Ale

 

[binky]

Gales Prize Old Ale (9%) - mmmm... lovely stuff and in a corked bottle.

George Gales Cans - Prize Old Ale

As I recall, Prize old ale came in 1/3 pint bottles.
We used to dring "Vikings" at the Basket Makers, which was a bottle of PrIze in a pint glass, topped up with HSB.

T'was called a Viking because it crept up behind you and raped and pillaged you.

Hmmmm.


As for Watneys Red Barrell...
Wasn't that described as like making love in a boat?

 

[BensGrandad]

King & Barnes
Gales HSB
Colt 45
Watneys Special Bitter
Watneys Red
Brickwoods
Baby Toby (Barley Wine)
Fremlins
Toly Cobold

Baby Toby was not a Barley Wine as per their adult 1/2pt bottles it wasa strong light ale. The Barley Wine produced by Bass Charrington was the Bass No 1., also in nips.

I liked the Red and Blue Shield Bass similar to the original bottled White Shield Worthington and Worthington one with and one without sediment. The White Shield Worthington now brewed under licence is nothing like the old one in as much as if you had 12 of those you knew you had had a drink, and the headache to follow next morning.

 

[Johnny Crumplin Football]

Anyone remember this little gem

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

My late mum wnet LOOPY at me when I was about 17 or 18 after coming in from only having had four pints of Hurlimann in the Northern.

Yup, we used to call it Hooligan when I lived in Kent. Although it was only supposed to be the regulation 5% it always seemed to bring on head-mentalness after only a couple of pints. Weird.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

No party in the early seventies would be without a few of these.

 

[maidstoneseagull]

Anything with ICE in the title?

 

[Arthur]

Löwenbräu - once available in just one outlet in Brighton, the Bier Keller on the seafront, near the bottom of East Street.

Sam Smith's pubs still have it on tap....well the Princess Louise and the Cittee of York on High Holborn do.

 

[Johnny Crumplin Football]

Can't remember what this tasted like. Any good?

 

[Johnny Crumplin Football]

Sorry, THIS

 

[Lewesian Seagull]

Whitbread 'Big Head' Trophy Bitter
"The pint that thinks it's a quart"

It was crap as well

Unbelievably, still available. Had to choose between that and Whitbread Creamflow at a bar in Dorset at the weekend.


It's still crap!

 

[MOG]

As there seem to be a few drinkers here you may want to check this site out (if you don't already know about it).

Beerhere – online seller of specialist and imported beers, lagers and ales.

Our huge range of online beers come from all over the world, from Australia and Belgium to United States and West Indies. Whether it is an “Alt”, a “Lambic”, a Trappist Ale or a “Weiss Beer” we can make a speedy delivery to your door at competitive prices.

http://www.beerhere.co.uk/index.html

 

[Trufflehound]

King & Barnes
Gales HSB
Fremlins

Fremlins' Tusker was even nicer than the standard Fremlins. RIP.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I'll bet nobody remembers THIS one: ZEISS, tiny wee bottle of lager 'with a champagne yeast'. 8 percent or something. Gorgeous, tho evil stuff. This would be mid-nineties. we used to try and drink it lunchtimes, at the Flying Goose in Fleet, Hampshire. World record round those parts was three bottles for a girlie, seven bottles for a bloke. Probably less than two pints in total, but both male and female winners went to the bogs, never came back and were docked a half day's pay! They used to wake up about half six or something. Zeiss was withdrawn shortly after it appeared.

 

[Storer68]

Anybody remember Tamplins, weren't they a Brighton brewery? I have a vague recollection that the North Stand had a Tamplins sign along the roof in the 60's?

you can just about make out the lef t half of the Tamplins signs. This pic must habe been taken around 1953 before the development of the "New" West Stand

 

[Storer68]

Trades and Businesses Longhurst's Amber Ale Brewery at Preston Circus, c. 1890. Winter scene of Preston Circus in 1890's showing Longhurst's Amber ale breweries (built 1881) and Hare and Hounds Public House. The Brewery has been taken over by R. Fry and Co. to produce mineral water. In background is Stamford Arms Public House.
Image reproduced with kind permission from Brighton and Hove in Pictures by Brighton and Hove City Council
The Hand in Hand, Kemp Town Brewery
Photo by Tony Mould
Breweries
Reproduced with permission from the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder, 1990
Please note that this text is an extract from a reference work written in 1990. As a result, some of the content may not reflect recent research, changes and events.

The apparently insatiable thirst for beer and the large number of public houses and beer-houses opening in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to the establishment of many breweries in the town. Some of the better known breweries are detailed below.

a) ALBION BREWERY, Albion Street: Acquired by the Phoenix Brewery in 1892, it was used only as a store from 1924 and then as a builder's yard until demolished in the 1970s. The site is now occupied by the Elim Church. The adjacent Stable public house is named from the brewery's stable that stood opposite.

b) AMBER ALE BREWERY, Preston Circus: Once dominating Preston Circus with a very large clock tower and a domed roof, it was probably established in the 1820s by Smithers. The brewery was later acquired by Longhursts but was demolished in 1901 to allow tram lines to be laid on a curve between Beaconsfield Road and Viaduct Road. Part of the building was adapted as a fire station, since rebuilt, but the malting was incorporated into the Duke of York's Cinema and may still be seen behind the present fire station.

c) BLACK LION BREWERY: Said to have been the oldest brewery building in the world. See "Old Town (Black Lion Street)".

d) CANNON BREWERY, Russell Street: Established in the early nineteenth century by a Mr Barnett, it was acquired by Tamplins in 1926 but was demolished in 1969 for the extension of Churchill Square. It was latterly used as a bottling plant only.

e) KEMP TOWN BREWERY, Seymour Street: Founded by William Hallett as the Bristol Brewery in about the 1840s, it was later taken over by the Abbey family and became the Kemp Town Brewery in 1933. In 1963 it was taken over by Charringtons, but brewing ceased in April 1964 and it became empty in 1966. The main buildings were sold in January 1970 for the development of Seymour Square. There was also a malting at the corner of Eastern Road and Sutherland Road, a site now used by Brighton College. In 1989 a new Kemp Town Brewery opened at the Hand in Hand public house in Upper St James's Street.

f) NORTH STREET BREWERY: Established in the first half of the nineteenth century by William Smithers. When Imperial Arcade was built on the site in 1923 the brewery continued trading from premises in Regent Hill until it was acquired by Tamplins in 1929. A malt-house belonging to this brewery remains on the southern side of Blenheim Place.

g) PHOENIX BREWERY, Albion Street: Built in 1821 to replace Richard Tamplin's Southwick Brewery following its destruction by fire in August 1820, the brewery thus rising up from the ashes like the fabulous Arabian phoenix. Part of the Watney empire since 1953, it occupies a large site behind Richmond Terrace. One old, flint malting remains in Southover Street, while the decorated former brewery office of 1893 stands in Phoenix Place near the brewery's own public house, the Free Butts. The surrounding roads also retain their original setts. Since 1973 it has been used as a bottling plant and depot only, the beer being brought in from the Watney brewery at Mortlake, but the whole site is scheduled for closure in early 1991 as the distribution depot moves to Lewes. A 1990 plan for the redevelopment of the site with offices and housing also involves the demolition of Wellesley House in Waterloo Place, but retains the Free Butts and the 1893 offices.

h) PRESTON BREWERY, South Road: Stood at the rear of the Preston Brewery Tap. Its flint-walled malting still stands in South Road.

j) ROCK BREWERY, St James's Street: Stood at the corner of Mount Street with premises also in Warwick Street and St Mary's Place. It was established in about 1809 and continued brewing until about 1928.

k) WEST STREET BREWERY: Dating from at least the mid eighteenth century, it became the first Brighton brewery to employ steam in about 1800. In 1824 it was taken over by Vallance and Son, and later became Vallance and Catt's brewery. Standing behind the King's Head near the south-western corner of West Street, it was taken over by Smithers in 1913 but was closed by Tamplins in 1929.

Any numerical cross-references in the text above refer to resources in the Sources and Bibliography section of the Encyclopaedia of Brighton by Tim Carder.
The following resource(s) is quoted as a general source for the information above: {83,123,275}

Update on the above text

g) Phoenix Brewery
From 1973 it was used as a bottling plant and depot only, the beer being brought in from the Watney brewery at Mortlake, but the whole site was closed in 1991 as the distribution depot moved to Lewes. A 1990 plan for the redevelopment of the site with offices and housing which followed did involve the demolition of Wellesley House in Waterloo Place, but this latter did not occur. The site retains the Free Butts public house and the 1893 offices.

This page was added on 10/12/2006.

Comments:
On finding the MyB&H website I realise that I have always had itchy feet. The amount of jobs that I had when I was younger is unbelievable. Now I have remembered another one in a brewery. Does anybody remember Hedges and Hedges brewery? I think that it was up Lavender Street near to Eastern Road, not too sure about the exact location. It was a boring monotonous job most days, just feeding empty bottles that had come back from the pubs into holes in the cleaning machine. Loading and unloading the delivery lorries was ok. The best day was on a Thursday, that was the day that the Guinness was bottled. This Guinness was delivered by tanker and then put into a giant stainless steel vat ready for bottling. After the bottling was over some of us younger lads used to stick our heads into an opening in the vat and just sniff the fumes, and wipe the brown scum off of the walls and lick our fingers, and get plastered in the process. Another of the jobs that was hard was at the end of a hard days work - we had to collect all the broken glass from the floors and the bins and carry them upstairs from the basement to the first floor. Then we would spend ages cleaning the place ready for the next day. The foreman was a big headed man with a big mouth and he shouted all day. I won't tell you what we called him. During the short tea breaks we played poker and drank our free pint of beer. That's where I learnt to play cards in my youth.

By Mick Peirson (25/12/2006)

 

[warsaw]

you can just about make out the lef t half of the Tamplins signs. This pic must habe been taken around 1953 before the development of the "New" West Stand

I KNEW I was right! I was trying to find a pic of the North Stand myself but you beat me to it. That old West stand was a tiddler, eh?

 

[The Timekeeper]

Artic Lite lager... early 80's