Phoenix Brewery

[TrevorDove]

Still see some signs with the brewery name on it but never seen a drink brewed by them available. Did they go bust after the huge sponsership deal with us?

 

[Brovion]

Dunno. Originally 'Phoenix Brewery' was an attempt to get us all to drink Watney's [remember that all fellow over-35s?] Watney's had got such a bad name they had to re-brand it. I think that Phoenx too was a failure so they stopped brewing beer completely and concentrated on pubs.

Could be wrong, don't know and don't care as whatever name was used it was rubbish. Good riddance.

 

[GUNTER]

I thought Watneys became Courage.

I remember the red barrel hanging outside the Watneys pubs (eg the Race Hill at bottom of elm Grove)

 

[Deano's Right Foot]

I think that the brewery closed down around the early 1980s.

It was between Southover Street and Albion Hill, and while some of the old buildings still exist there are lots of new buildings on the site (Uni halls of residence for example).

I remember their huge brick wall on Southover street being blown down in the 1987 storm.

 

[GUNTER]

I have seen some people still wearing the Pheonix Brewery shirts. Remember Steve Penney flying down the wing in it delivering inviting crosses to Terry Connor and Dean Saunders.

 

[Brovion]

I thought Watneys became Courage.

I remember the red barrel hanging outside the Watneys pubs (eg the Race Hill at bottom of elm Grove)

No, Courage was always separate. A bit off-thread but whatever happened to Brickwoods, Double Diamond and Trophy Bitter?

 

[GUNTER]

I think the market for mass produced keg ales declined and organisations like CAMARA ensured that real ales took over. People pay more but get much better quality.

 

[Bwian]

No, Courage was always separate. A bit off-thread but whatever happened to Brickwoods, Double Diamond and Trophy Bitter?

Don't know but anything Brickwoods was awful-something akin to carbonnated weasel piss. Double Diamond-ditto.

 

[Ex Shelton Seagull]

I think the Free Butt still has a Phoenix Brewery sign. Don't know if it's still run by them, i'm sure there's enough beer experts on here that can tell us what happened to Phoenix.

 

[Wardy]

I was working at the recent Eastbourne Beer Festival and we had beers from Phoenix there.

 

[Deano's Right Foot]

There is still a Pheonix Brewery up in Manchester. Not sure if it's the same company.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Don't know but anything Brickwoods was awful-something akin to carbonnated weasel piss. Double Diamond-ditto.

I seem to remember Brickwoods being bought out by Whitbreads.
Whitbread made the appalling Trophy Bitter 'the pint that thinks its a quart'. It was always served up by a cleavage in the adverts, if I recall. The best beer out of Whitbreads when I was a lad was Pompey Royal.

Double Diamond lives on. I saw it on daft in an English pub in New York last year.

 

[GUNTER]

You can still sey both Double Diamond and Red Barrel abroad. Its to cater for ex-pats who left Britiain in the 70's/80's thinking mass produced keg bitters remind them of home. They don't realise we don't touch the stuff over here any more!

 

[eastlondonseagull]

I have seen some people still wearing the Pheonix Brewery shirts. Remember Steve Penney flying down the wing in it delivering inviting crosses to Terry Connor and Dean Saunders.

Memories! I had one of those shirts, but lost it years ago sadly. Still got my British Caledonian shirt, albeit sized when I was 10-years-old!

 

[Storer68]

Anyone remember Tamplins.. They had a big sign on the old North Stand roof.

Phoenix was taken over in the sixties by Watneys (I think) who then used the name because it had local cache and after the debacle that was Red Barrel, no one would drink Watneys, so they used a different name

I aways thought that Phoenix became a distribution company rather than a brewery - iin the 80s when they sponsored us it was just a trade name

 

[Brovion]

Anyone remember Tamplins.. They had a big sign on the old North Stand roof.

Phoenix was taken over in the sixties by Watneys (I think) who then used the name because it had local cache and after the debacle that was Red Barrel, no one would drink Watneys, so they used a different name

I aways thought that Phoenix became a distribution company rather than a brewery - iin the 80s when they sponsored us it was just a trade name

I think you mean 'Tamplins was taken over by Watneys'. That was certainly true. Also one old brewing figure, not sure if it was Mr Tamplin or Mr Mann (Watney's full name was Watney-Mann Breweries) was born in what is now the Three Horseshoes pub in Lancing.

The whole shebang eventually ended up as part of the Grand Metropolitan Hotel Group.

 

[Gwylan]

I seem to remember Brickwoods being bought out by Whitbreads.
Whitbread made the appalling Trophy Bitter 'the pint that thinks its a quart'. It was always served up by a cleavage in the adverts, if I recall. The best beer out of Whitbreads when I was a lad was Pompey Royal.

Double Diamond lives on. I saw it on daft in an English pub in New York last year.

Brickwoods used to own the Bevendean Hotel in Moulsecoomb, my local. I think CS is right and it ended up in Whitbread's.

Do you remember the appalling "No, but I like the men who drink it" ads from Whitbread?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

The old Watneys brewery in Mortlake (or is it Sheen) was called the Phoenix Brewery.

 

[Sigull]

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bit fuzzy but its a bit old !

 

[BensGrandad]

Phoenix Brewery was part of the Watney Mann combine that was bought out by Maxwell Josephs Grand Metropolitan Group. The monopolies commission then decided that pub companys were too big and had too much control and as a result said that no brewery company could own more than 1200 pubs. Gd Met then sold their brewery operation to Courages so that they met the above requirement and formed a pub leasing company called Inntrepeneur. This is turn received terrible publicity and was forced to change hands and was bought out by Nomura Bank of Japan who kept it for a couple of years before selling it to another company called Unique Inns. During the entire period of these sales whichever company 'owned' the pubs operated from Mill House in Thame Oxfordshire and all their stationery was exactly the same, invoices letters contracts etc with just the owners name being different. This company was sold to an Entrepeneur called Ted Tuppen who formed Enterprise Inns, which is what the company is called now. Courages Brewers who had sold all of their pubs to Inntrepeneur bought out Scottish and Newcastle and now operate under the brewery name of Scottish Courage.

Brickwoods were bought out by Whitbreads who during this pub for sale period sold out the breweries to Interbrew, Belgian company who own Stella Artois. Whitbreads are now a property owning company, Travel Lodge, Costa Coffe shops David Lloyd Sports Centres etc. Their lease company was called Laurel but this was bought out by Hugh Osmond who ran the lease company for Charringtons when they sold up their breweries.

Double Diamond was a product brewed by In Coope & Allsops but went out of production at about the same time.