Newbury brewery

[mamor]

Does anyone know where and how I can find out more about breweries in Newbury?

I believe that my 2x great grandfather  George Freemantle worked at "South Berkshire Brewey". He and his family lived in Jack Street at the time  (c1901-1908) and his occupation was Brewers' Labourer.

I would like to find any staff records and any photos relating to the brewery.

Many thanks

Monique

[newburychap]

The South Berks Brewery Co was a conglomerate (on a small scale) of a number of Newbury breweries formed when Hawkins Brewery in West Mills merged with Parfitt's Brewery in Bartholomew St. They then bought out the Diamond Brewery, the Bridge Brewery and one or two others I can't bring to mind at present.  This all happened in the 1890s early 1900s, they also bought a Reading Brewery (again I can't recall the name offhand). Eventually they themselves were bought by H&G Simonds of Reading in 1920. Brewing was done in the West Mills brewery - all demolished and built over apart from the owners house (later offices). Following the takeover by Simonds the West Mills site was used as a bottling plant for a while.

If there are any staff records (which I doubt) they will be in the Courage Archive (Simonds merged with Courage in 1960) - probably in the bits of it that are at the LMA, but I think they mainly hold corporate stuff (management minutes etc).

Jack Street was alongside their major Newbury competitor - the Newbury Brewery Company (taken over by Simonds in 1930).

[mamor]

Many thanks for your reply. George & his family lived at Smiths Buildings, The Marsh, which was apparently a tied house belonging to South Berks Brewery. they later moved to Jack Street.

According to his late daughters' memoirs, the entrance to the Brewery was in Northbrook Street and the rear was at The Marsh -does that give any clues as to the name of this particular brewery?

I am going to the library next week in hope of finding some pictures to give me a feel of the times and conditions.

Thanks again

Monique

[newburychap]

Smith's buildings were owned/built by Thomas Smith - who seems to have built half of Newbury in the first half of the C19th.  He also financed a couple of his sons-in-law in their buy out of the old Townsend Brewery, which went through several name changes as various partnerships took control until Francis Flower Somerset finally ended up with complete control; he incorporated the brewery as the Newbury Brewery Company in the late 1890s. If your chap was living in one of Smith's Cottages in the Marsh in 1901-1908 he was working for the Newbury Brewery Co, not the South Berks. The Townsend's house in Northbrook St is still there as C&G and the tap (the Castle) still stands as a jewellers (Zales?). The working entrance to the brewery would have been from the rear (Marsh Lane or Marsh Road). A lot of the brewery buildings survived until 2008 when the soon to open Parkway shopping centre began to be built. 

It makes no difference to the records, any surviving ones will be with the Courage Archive - which has been somewhat dispersed (county record offices have been given deeds of licensed houses). A book written in the 1980s gave some great information on the location of brewery records, but most major breweries have been absorbed by InBev, Heineken or Carlsberg by now and information from the 1980s regarding the location of records is totally out of date.

[mamor]

Thank you that's really helpful information, I know so little about this man (I know more about his own grandfather two generations further back than I do about him), so I am trying to build a picture of his life so he's not forgotten.

Monique

[knighttemplar]

As a matter of interest Monique, does James and Lucy Freemantle of Berkshire fit into your family tree?

[mamor]

Not too sure, any idea who James' parents were?  My Freemantles originate from Bishop's Sutton via Easton and then Ecchinswell.

[knighttemplar]

didn't get that far back I'm afraid. James was born circa 1796, and married Lucy Newland in 1818. I'm not related to the family, just researching a George Freemantle of Arborfield, son of the above, who later served in the Indian Navy in the 1850's and died in Liverpool. His only son died in Bury, Lancashire, in 1961, and I'm trying to trace the next of kin.

[mamor]

I don't think there is a connection as my Freemantles didn't come to Newbury until the late 1800's. 

Good luck with your search!