The Cooper Company ( St . Pauls and The Hop Exchange )

[double-trouble]

I've continued to look for information regarding the Cooper Company ( beer trade ) in the 1860's .
John William Melville ( alias Bevil ) who has had his fair amount of threads on Rootschat , is known to have been the manager along with 2 sons ( John and William ) working at this company as clerks ( 1871 census of Union Rd , Walthamstow ) . Martyn Cornell's site Zythophile , gives info . on the Cooper Company at the Circular Vaults at St . Pauls Churchyard in 1866 prior to moving across the Thames to the Hop Exchange in Southwark Street .
I can find information on the churchyard at St Pauls being used for music , the sale of musical instruments and the sale of books but nothing on the vaults and their usage for storage and brewing of alcohol .
Is there any information known as to this practice in the 1860's at St . Paul's ? If so was it to generally sell space for church funds ? Were there other business ventures within the vaults  ?

Additional info . on the company - Islington Times 05 Mar 1872 , Woodford Times 19 Aug 1876 & South London Chronicle 12 Aug 1876 .

On a similar thread , are there known lists of those companies at the Hop Exchange in Southwark ?
Zythophile suggests it had moved to there by 1875 ( Head Office Cellars in Southwark St and Export Coopers Cellars in nearby Guildford Street ) .
I've looked at various websites of the area which give an amount of info . and pictures of the Hop Exchange , but no detail as to occupants .
Appreciate any help , thoughts and further details or advice .. .thankyou

[Watson]

I checked the 1875 P.O. London Directory.  At 22 Southwark Street is listed The Exchange.  Perhaps it is what you referred to as the Hop Exchange. It was divided into a number of units.  Some are named and include such as hop merchants, but I didn't find the names you mentioned.  Post again if you want anything specific checked. 

[hanes teulu]

Puzzled whether beer was brewed at Circular Vaults or bottled only.
If you have access to newspapers on line (BNA or FindMyPast) have a look at the Morning Post, 21 Nov 1862, column 2 "Bottled Cooper". I thinked this is picked up in Zythophile's piece.

A fascinating post.

[double-trouble]

I checked the 1875 P.O. London Directory.  At 22 Southwark Street is listed The Exchange.  Perhaps it is what you referred to as the Hop Exchange. It was divided into a number of units.  Some are named and include such as hop merchants, but I didn't find the names you mentioned.  Post again if you want anything specific checked. 

Hi Watson..thanks for that info . as it all adds up to the bigger picture at some stage . The named units are still in situ today I believe as the building has been renovated and looks very grand online .
Is it to much trouble to post the names ( numbers ) etc..you mention of 1875 of the smaller units as at some stage I will possibly be able to whittle it down to the one the Cooper Company used . There must be info . somewhere.. Thankyou again .

[double-trouble]

Puzzled whether beer was brewed at Circular Vaults or bottled only.
If you have access to newspapers on line (BNA or FindMyPast) have a look at the Morning Post, 21 Nov 1862, column 2 "Bottled Cooper". I thinked this is picked up in Zythophile's piece.

A fascinating post.

Hi hanes teula..you've helped me before on other topics and again thankyou for the info . however insignificant it may be now it may help in the future . The bottled Cooper mentioned on the various articles I've seen seem to suggest the name may have been used widely within the industry by different companies , with The Cooper Company possibly claiming some type of originality of it .
I've been looking through lots of sites today trying to find any info . on the cellars / vaults at St . Pauls but still no joy..very strange and can only believe that space at the church was utilised for rent to pay for a particular project there . Were there other small companies renting space  ?? similar to the railway arches / old stables at bigger stations today . Thankyou

[hanes teulu]

The earliest reference I have found to date - West London Times, 22 Nov 1862

It was this that made me wonder if the activity at St Paul's was bottling only?

[hanes teulu]

Following Johnson's appointment as agent this advert appeared extensively in the newspapers in Nov/Dec 1862

[hanes teulu]

Salisbury Weekly Reporter 25 Oct 1852
Doesn't mention "Circular Vaults", only "45, St Paul's Churchyard" - but involves other than beer. 

[double-trouble]

It seems that J.W.Melvilles Cooper Company may have used the coat tails of Henry Johnson by insisting that the company were the ' originators  and the only bottlers of bottled Cooper ' ref . Zylophile site . Information gathered a few years ago suggests the company went into liquidation or the like in the mid 1870's and possibly attributed directly through this practice ..although by then the company had moved to Southwark and The Hop Exchange ( 1875 ) . At this time the site says ' it was still claiming to be the originators and introducers to the trade of botttled Coopers and Family Ale ' .
Thankyou for the adverts posted which again mention the Circular Vaults at St . Paul's Churchyard .