Anglo-Bavarian Brewery
Encyclopedia
The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery was established in Shepton Mallet
in Somerset
, England in 1864 as the first lager
brewery
in the United Kingdom
. It closed in 1920. The building, now the Anglo Trading Estate, is a grade II* listed building and is on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk
Register, and Mendip District Council's Historic Buildings at Risk Register.
The brewery was built for Morrice, Cox and Clarke of London
, and was initially called the Shepton Mallet Pale Ale
Brewery. During the construction work on the site pottery kilns, used to make Severn Valley Ware, dating from the 1st to 2nd century were discovered.
In 1871, the business was sold by auction to Hill, Garton and Company of Southampton
, who subsequently expanded and modernised it. In 1872 the Pale Ale Brewery was renamed the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery in reference to the employment, by the new owners, of some brewers from Bavaria
in order to produce a German
-style beer
, and it appears that what is now called lager was brewed from that year.
The brewery site was lit throughout by electricity
by 1889, generated by a dynamo
powered by a steam engine
, allowing work to continue at night. In 1890 the brewery employed over 200 people (compared with about 50 in the early 1870s).
There was no natural source of water on the brewery site and so water was supplied by the local water company. This was sufficient for a while but by the end of 19th century an additional source was required. A spring was discovered at Bowlish which proved able to provide seemingly unlimited supplies of very pure water.
Disposal of the effluents produced by the brewery were also a major problem and pollution
of the River Sheppey
was a source of much discontent amongst land owners further down the valley from 1877 until the closure of the brewery in 1921.
In 1890 it was reported that the beer brewed at the Anglo-Bavarian was sold throughout England and the Channel Islands
by 250 agents. However the brewery’s main area of sales was export. Beginning in 1875, beer was transported to a bottler in London, from where it was shipped to Australia
, New Zealand
, India
, South Africa
, South America
and the West Indies. Overseas sales were in the order of 1.8 million bottles per year.
As well as providing employment to Shepton Mallet, the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery also provided the services of its fire brigade to the town (and the wider surrounding area) between 1868 and 1921. The brewery fire brigade were called upon many times, most notably in 1904 for a fire at Shepton Mallet Prison
.
and the rise of the temperance movement
also helped to damage the chances of the Shepton Mallet brewery returning to its earlier levels of success.
By 1920 the brewery was employing only a few men and the Garton Company which still owned the Anglo Brewery was reviewing its business interests. In April 1921 all of the machinery, plant and other fittings of the brewery were put up for sale by auction, from the office furniture to the one remaining cart horse named Darling. In August of that year the brewery site itself, and all of the brewery’s lands including Bowlish House, was also put up for auction.
The word Bavarian was dropped again as the outbreak of the Second World War approached and in 1939 the brewery site (and all the machinery) was requisitioned by the Air Ministry
. (Cider production was transferred to a site in Darshill under the name of the Anglo Apple Mills.)
Ownership of the Trading Estate later passed to J H Haskins & Son Ltd, owners of the prominent furniture store in Shepton Mallet. In March 2008, they published plans to redevelop the site to include a hotel and conference facilities, as well as shops, offices, pubs, cafes, restaurants, a recording studio and housing.
It is included in the Buildings at Risk Register produced by English Heritage
.
Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet is a small rural town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately south of Bristol and east of Wells, the town is estimated to have a population of 9,700. It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England in 1864 as the first lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It closed in 1920. The building, now the Anglo Trading Estate, is a grade II* listed building and is on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk
Heritage at Risk
Heritage at Risk is a collective term applied to 'designated' heritage assets that are at risk as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development, or are vulnerable to becoming so.In England, an annual Heritage at Risk Register is published by English Heritage...
Register, and Mendip District Council's Historic Buildings at Risk Register.
1864 to 1914 – Establishment and Growth
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and was initially called the Shepton Mallet Pale Ale
Pale ale
Pale ale is a beer which uses a warm fermentation and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles.The higher proportion of pale malts results in a lighter colour. The term "pale ale" was being applied around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with coke, which resulted in a...
Brewery. During the construction work on the site pottery kilns, used to make Severn Valley Ware, dating from the 1st to 2nd century were discovered.
In 1871, the business was sold by auction to Hill, Garton and Company of Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, who subsequently expanded and modernised it. In 1872 the Pale Ale Brewery was renamed the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery in reference to the employment, by the new owners, of some brewers from Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in order to produce a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-style beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
, and it appears that what is now called lager was brewed from that year.
The brewery site was lit throughout by electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
by 1889, generated by a dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
powered by a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, allowing work to continue at night. In 1890 the brewery employed over 200 people (compared with about 50 in the early 1870s).
There was no natural source of water on the brewery site and so water was supplied by the local water company. This was sufficient for a while but by the end of 19th century an additional source was required. A spring was discovered at Bowlish which proved able to provide seemingly unlimited supplies of very pure water.
Disposal of the effluents produced by the brewery were also a major problem and pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
of the River Sheppey
River Sheppey
The River Sheppey has its source in a group of springs west of the village of Doulting, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England. It flows through the wetlands to the north of the Polden Hills and ultimately joins the River Brue.- Route :...
was a source of much discontent amongst land owners further down the valley from 1877 until the closure of the brewery in 1921.
In 1890 it was reported that the beer brewed at the Anglo-Bavarian was sold throughout England and the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
by 250 agents. However the brewery’s main area of sales was export. Beginning in 1875, beer was transported to a bottler in London, from where it was shipped to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and the West Indies. Overseas sales were in the order of 1.8 million bottles per year.
As well as providing employment to Shepton Mallet, the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery also provided the services of its fire brigade to the town (and the wider surrounding area) between 1868 and 1921. The brewery fire brigade were called upon many times, most notably in 1904 for a fire at Shepton Mallet Prison
Shepton Mallet (HM Prison)
HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison.Shepton Mallet is a Category C Lifer Prison and holds 186 prisoners...
.
1914 to 1921 – Decline and Closure
The reasons for the decline of the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery are various. Amongst them is anti-German feeling following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The inclusion of the word Bavarian on the label of the brewery's bottles led to them being removed from shop shelves throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. The Brewery and its beer were quickly re-named as Anglo but this did not have much effect and trade rapidly declined. The post-war recessionRecession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
and the rise of the temperance movement
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
also helped to damage the chances of the Shepton Mallet brewery returning to its earlier levels of success.
By 1920 the brewery was employing only a few men and the Garton Company which still owned the Anglo Brewery was reviewing its business interests. In April 1921 all of the machinery, plant and other fittings of the brewery were put up for sale by auction, from the office furniture to the one remaining cart horse named Darling. In August of that year the brewery site itself, and all of the brewery’s lands including Bowlish House, was also put up for auction.
1927 to 1947 – Resurrection and Requisition
The brewery buildings were again put up for sale in 1926, this time for demolition purposes. However there was little interest and the site remained intact. In 1927 the site was bought by a Mr Bennett who began to install new machinery, and by 1934 a new Anglo-Bavarian Brewery company was registered to once again carry on beer and cider production.The word Bavarian was dropped again as the outbreak of the Second World War approached and in 1939 the brewery site (and all the machinery) was requisitioned by the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
. (Cider production was transferred to a site in Darshill under the name of the Anglo Apple Mills.)
1947 to date – The Anglo Trading Estate, and proposals for future development
After the War, half the site was restored to the Bennett family, but again without any machinery which had been removed to aid the war effort. In April 1947 the buildings began their new life as the Anglo Trading Estate, providing warehousing and distribution to a range of expanding local businesses such as Clarks the shoe-makers. The Air Ministry returned the remainder of the site in 1964.Ownership of the Trading Estate later passed to J H Haskins & Son Ltd, owners of the prominent furniture store in Shepton Mallet. In March 2008, they published plans to redevelop the site to include a hotel and conference facilities, as well as shops, offices, pubs, cafes, restaurants, a recording studio and housing.
It is included in the Buildings at Risk Register produced by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.