The year Sheffield’s beer scene changed forever

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of Sheffield CAMRA’s branch magazine. Here, Richard Hough looks back to the time when he, and wife Kathryn, could call themselves Beer Matters editors.

We edited for a couple of years towards the end of last century – I know… During one barely believable 6-month period, we witnessed upheaval that changed the Sheffield brewing scene beyond recognition.

Stones

In January 1999, production of Stones’ Bitter came to an end in Sheffield with the closure of the Cannon Brewery.

William Stones established the Rutland Road site when he bought the lease of Neepsend Brewery in 1868. (That’s right, you read that correctly. The current Neepsend operation down the road, where I brewed for a while, is a resurrection of an old brewery name.)

Over the years, the brewery expanded, and Stones’ became the country’s biggest selling bitter, with one in every ten pints drunk in Britain being Stones’. At its peak, the Cannon Brewery was producing 50,000 hectolitres of cask-conditioned Stones’ each year. (1 hec = 176 pints = that’s a LOT of beer.) Such was the demand that the brewery was paying up to £1.5 million PER MONTH in duty by 1991. After that, the quality – and strength – of Stones’ Bitter deteriorated, as Bass chose to promote Worthington instead.

Following the closure of the Cannon Brewery in January 1999, Stones’ became known as the ‘beer on wheels’ after Highgate (Walsall), Thwaites (Blackburn), and Everard’s (Leicester), all had a go at brewing it.

As for the brewery site, it is now a derelict shell, and a bit of an eyesore, although the Urban Artists of Sheffield would strongly disagree! The more modern reception centre is currently occupied by an accounting firm.

(The site is about to be redeveloped for housing, with a little encouragement from the South Yorkshire Mayor! – ed)

Years later, production of Stones’ returned to Sheffield, albeit on a much smaller scale. True North took on the name, the old recipe and, happily, returned the ABV to its original 4.1%.

So to Ward’s…

Ward’s

In 1868, Septimus Henry Ward moved to Sheffield and joined an ailing brewery. Due to his financial clout, the primary brand was named Ward’s Best Bitter. In 1876, they bought the Soho Brewery on Ecclesall Road and renamed it the Sheaf Island Brewery (after the brewery on Effingham Street); later the business became S. H. Ward & Co and the Eccy Road site became the Sheaf Brewery.

There was wartime suffering when, in 1940, three incendiary bombs landed on the brewery, killing 4 workers. Ward’s recovered post-war, and continued to brew their distinctive bitter, all the while improving and expanding their pub estate.

[This is from David Lloyd Parry’s excellent STINGO: “Then in 1973 a successful bid for the company was made by Vaux of Sunderland. Ward’s continued healthily up to the time of writing (1995) with 229 tied houses.”]

YOUR BEER – YOUR BREWERY said the gold lettering shining proudly atop the tower.

Then greed took over. In April 1999, it was announced that Ward’s Brewery was to close. At the time, the company was making £4 million profit a year. But the new owners, Swallow Hotels, wanted more. It closed in July 1999, and 600 jobs went to the wall.

“It was revealed later that the price achieved was several million pounds less than the buyout that would have saved the brewery.” Swallow Hotels, hang your heads in shame.

The old entrance arch still remains, but the site of the Sheaf Brewery has been converted to apartments, with the ground floor now occupied by a Wetherspoons pub, The Sheaf Island. A large metal sculpture of a hop cone serves as a reminder of the days when the aroma of brewing filled the air on Eccy Road.

The closure of Ward’s left the tiny Kelham Island as Sheffield’s largest brewery. It had only been established in 1990! Astonishing that they could now call themselves the biggest in the Steel City. Not far down the line, they became the best too, when their flagship Pale Rider was voted Champion Beer of Britain in 2004.

This brewery is sadly no more with Kelham Island branded beers now being brewed at Thornbridge in Bakewell.

Some breweriana from the old Ward’s site can be seen at the Millowner’s Arms at the Kelham Island Museum, while Chris at the Harlequin is collating an interesting collection of Ward’s memorabilia.

Suffice to say, our short period editing Beer Matters back then saw change beyond belief. Interestingly, this upheaval paved the way for Sheffield to become the Beer Capital of Britain – something I will explore in future issues.

RICHARD HOUGH

STOP PRESS! Last month it was announced that True North is to discontinue production of Stones’ Bitter – see elsewhere in this issue for details. What next for this famous Sheffield brand, we wonder?