Tetley's Brewery was a large brewery in Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England. The main product was Tetley's Bitter

Tetley's Bitter

Tetley's was a brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England which operated for 189 years until it was closed in June 2011. The brewery was owned by the Carlsberg Group and produced a range of beers, including Tetley's Bitter, and was the world's largest producer of...

, although Skol

Skol

Skol was initially created to be a global beer brand. Allied Breweries , Labatt , Pripps-Bryggerierna and Unibra formed a new company called Skol International in 1964. Its aim was the creation of a world-wide beer brand, Skol, which could be licensed, manufactured and marketed across the world...

 and other beers were also made there.

History

The original brewery was opened on the current site in 1822. Parts of the original buildings still stand and extensions have been built as late as 2006. The Brewery opened a museum on the 19 March 1994. The attraction proved popular; however, redevelopment of the land surrounding the brewery led to the attraction's closure on 7 April 2000. The building is now bars and restaurants which are part of the Brewery Wharf development.

All fermenting now takes place in stainless steel Yorkshire squares and conical vessels; the slate Yorkshire squares, dating from about the 1880s, were broken up and removed in autumn 2008.

Location

The brewery is situated on the south banks of the River Aire

River Aire

The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....

 near Crown Point, Hunslet

Hunslet

Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is south east of the city centre and has an industrial past.Hunslet had many engineering companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co...

 and Clarence Dock

Clarence Dock (Leeds)

Clarence Dock is a shopping and leisure destination in central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It also hosts a large residential population in waterside apartments, as well as a significant office presence....

. The adjacent Yorkshire Chemical works has recently been demolished The Brewery opened a museum on the 19 March 1994. There is also a distribution centre nearby in Tingley

Tingley

Tingley is a settlement in West Yorkshire, England, forming part of the parish of West Ardsley and of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.It is situated midway between Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford but is considered part of Morley...

.

Closure

The closure of the brewery by Carlsberg was announced on 5 November 2008. The brewery finally closed its doors on 17 June 2011..

Carlsberg tried to redeploy some staff throughout the group but 179 staff did lose their jobs. Production of Tetley beer will be moved to Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

.

The brewery produced around 185 million pints of Tetley's every year. In addition to this brewery there was a distribution centre in nearby Tingley

Tingley

Tingley is a settlement in West Yorkshire, England, forming part of the parish of West Ardsley and of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.It is situated midway between Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford but is considered part of Morley...

. There are no plans to close this depot.

Since the closure of the Yorkshire Chemical Works adjacent to the brewery, some of the land has been used for storage by Tetley's. It has been speculated whether the two sites will be redeveloped together.

The Brewery currently stands on the largest site it has ever stood on, after over 180 years of expansion. In 1906 the brewery stood on a fraction of its current site between Brook Street, Hunslet Road (this part now being known as Hunslet Lane), Crown Point Road and Waterloo Street. Many smaller streets in the vicinity have since disappeared under the ever extending brewery.

Several MPs in Leeds had called for a demerger between Tetley's and Carlsberg or a management buyout to save the brewery from closure. It had been suggested that the brewery could be leased to independent brewers, should it become unused. The Yorkshire Evening Post

Yorkshire Evening Post

The Yorkshire Evening Post is a daily evening publication published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...

estimated a value of £4–£5 million per acre for the site.