Everards Brewery


Everards Brewery Ltd has a very complicated history – probably unsurpassed in the annals of British brewing. This was not so much due to take-overs as to changes of address and name. The origins can be traced back to 1849 when William Everard, the great-great grandfather of the current chairman, together with Thomas Everard and Thomas Hull leased from Wilmot & Co to a brewery in Southgate Street, Leicester. Their stated intention was that “No effort shall be found wanting in the production and supply of genuine ale of first-rate quality”. In 1893 they commenced brewing in Burton-upon-Trent after they had acquired the Bridge Brewery from Henry Boddington & Co. This had been founded in 1720 by J Nunnely & Co but was later acquired by the Burton Brewery Co. This enterprise in the brewing capital of England proved so successful that by 1898 they needed to expand into larger premises.

As luck would have it the Trent Brewery in Anglesey Road was on the market. This had been built in 1881 as the Cripplegate Brewery for Thomas Sykes of Liverpool whose company was registered in 1889 as Sykes Brewery Co Ltd in 1893, although this did not prove beneficial as the firm went into voluntary liquidation in 1896. This was ideal for Everards purposes and brewing was transferred to the new premises in 1898, although the Bridge Brewery remained in use for another 3 years. An interesting point is that part of the old brewery buildings still exist albeit now converted into private dwellings.

The brewery in Leicester was still in use and indeed the company was registered in 1925 as W Everard & Co (Southgate Brewery). However, this was somewhat short-sighted as in 1931 all brewing was transferred to Burton-upon-Trent and the Southgate Brewery became a distribution centre. Accordingly the company was re-registered under the name of W Everard & Co in 1936. The war years and austerity that followed were relatively uneventful and the brewery remained unchanged but following the launch of Tiger Ale and the tiger’s head motif in the late 1960s, the Trent Brewery was renamed Tiger Brewery. This may have been to re-affirm the brewery’s connection with Leicester as the animal is used by the Rugby Football Club and many businesses in that city. This is probably due to the battle honours of the Royal Tiger being conferred on the 17th Leicestershire Regiment of Foot by King George IV in 1925 following their actions in the subcontinent.

The 1980s brought further changes to the brewery and a new enterprise half the world away. Following the conflict in the Falklands in 1982 the garrison on the islands was radically increased and the problem of supplying the forces with home comforts included the lack of English beer. To supply this need a micro-brewery was set up the following year in Port Stanley with equipment and expertise from Everards to brew Penguin Ale for both the troops and the islanders. Unfortunately, this was not a success and brewing ceased in 1986. However, far more important changes were taking place at home as it was decided that it was not economic to have the brewery on the fringe of the trading area, which was centred on Leicester. Accordingly, it was decided to build a new brewery on a green-field site at Caste Acres, Narborough on the southern outskirts of the city, conveniently near motorway junctions for distribution. It was originally intended that it would be used for the production of the relatively low volume higher gravity beers with brewing of the others being sub-contracted.

This did indeed occur for a while with Everards Bitter being brewed by Whitbread at Salmesbury and another development closer to home. The Tiger Brewery is a grade II listed building and when Everards ceased brewing there in 1985 it was purchased for preservation as a working brewery museum. It was agreed that to help this initiative Everards Mild and Tiger would be brewed here by the Heritage Brewery Ltd (Museum Trust) while the new plant was used for brewing Old Original. However, this arrangement did not prove successful and after increasing the capacity at the Castle Acres brewery, the production of all their products was gradually concentrated here. Beacon Bitter was taken back in 1988 and the transfer was complete in 1990 when Heritage ceased brewing Everards Mild and Tiger. Unfortunately, this was the final blow for the Heritage Museum although brewing continued on a much smaller scale, mostly as special runs for bottling, this ceased in 1995 when the brewery was put up for sale.

Historically the trading area was always centred on Leicester with 140 tied pubs after World War II. Judicious purchases since then have raised the total to 155 with pubs now in the West Midlands, Lincolnshire and one at Earls Court in London. Their flagship brands are also widely available in the free trade with bottled beer in off-licences and supermarkets. An intriguing development is that they now brew Chester’s Best Mild for Whitbread – a reversal of the situation ten years ago!

The portfolio of brews has almost entirely changed name over the years with most of the better known brands dating from the 1970s or later. The brews in the years after the war included Amber Mild Ale, Anchor Dark & Light, Belvoir Strong Brown Ale, Bradgate Brown Ale, Crown Keg, Hollingsworths Stag Stout, Meadow Sweet Stout, Old Bill Barley Wine, Red Crown Bitter and VB Prize Brown Ale. All of these have now disappeared but it is worth commenting about some of these names. The brown ales Belvoir and Bradgate are named after local landmarks but the use of Anchor is strange this far from the sea. The trade mark used on all the early mats as well as on the playing cards and other breweriana was an old man drinking from a small glass. Was this perhaps the Old Bill that gave his name to the barley wine? And finally, Hollingsworths Stag Stout soon dropped the first name – but who was Hollingsworth as I can find no reference to this name in connection with the brewery.

The 1970s saw the introduction of Beacon Bitter, Sabre Lager and Old Original Ale, which represented a return to cask-conditioned ale. Finally the successful Daredevil Traditional Winter Warmer was launched in 1993 followed by the short-lived Spencers Hand-Pulled Stout two years later. Then following the trend adopted by the national brewers for a beer that would stand mistreatment by inexperienced cellar staff the brewery introduced Christies Smooth and Spencers Smooth though as a bitter this time.

Article reprinted with the permission of The British Beer-Mat Collectors Society