R.B.N.B. Oakwell Brewery, History.
A Brief History: Brewing was first started around 1858, in the grounds of Beevor Hall, home to the Senior family constructed during the reign of Edward VII. The founding Company “Paul and Guy Senior” traded as brewers, until the formation of Barnsley Brewing Company Ltd, on 7th August 1888. Having its first annual meeting on 24th November 1888 held at the Kings Head, Barnsley (no longer in existence, but the original home of what is now know as “the Barnsley Chop”) at which, a Mr. Sam Lucas was elected as chairman. By 1896-7, the company reportedly had an annual output of over 7,500 barrels.
The original gates to the grounds of Beevor Hall became the entrance to the Brewery up and till 1954, when the company purchased the buildings and land in front of Beevor Hall from Wilson and Co (a manufacturing company producing bobbins for the textile industry). This gave the brewery an interrupted frontage of 500 yards onto Pontefract Road. Long gone are the Tennis courts and flowerbeds of roses and rhododendrons that lead up to the hall.
The Company was a family company with many of its officers and workers having long connections with the Company. Many of its chairman and board members have 40 to 50 years’ service and family ties stretching the length of its history.
Major additions to the buildings were made in latter part of the 1800’s, - the stables, built in 1885 by Guy Senior, eventually to become the carpenters shed and re-designed in 1947-48 into a modernised block of flats for officers and workers of the Company known as Beevor Court. The brew house, and other out buildings such as, workers cottages where all added as the Company grew. A bottling plant capable of producing 7,000 bottles of beer per hour was added in the 1940’s.
Many happenings and changes have been made over the last 120 years, but some to note were the fires of August 1912, when the stack was burnt to the ground and in May 1920 a fire in the maltings was said to have taken 2 weeks to put out. In 1922 Beevor Hall was purchased by the Company and turned into its offices. Beevor Hall was located where now stands Modern Office blocks, further land sales were made to Barnsley FC to the rear of the brewery site, now forming new training facilities and football pitches. In 1916 the Company took over the lease of the New Trent Brewery Company of Crowle and in 1918, took control of the Company. Also in 1949, the company purchased another company, this time C.D. Fox Brewery at Crowle, together with 40 licensed premises. In its heyday Barnsley Brewing Company owned 240 premises.
The Company’s connection with the football club can be traced back in time to its foundation. At one time the company owned half the football field jointly with Lord Halifax. It also owned shares in the club and helped by making contributions to providing the funds for the purchase of the grounds floodlights. Other connections with sport include Richard Umbers, (son of the 6th Chairman, Edward Umbers,) who won a Cambridge blue for Rugby. Cricket also had connections with the company, Trainee brewer E.S.M. Poyntz played with Somerset.
Barnsley Brewing Company’s connections to the local community, included board members who served as JP’s, town councillors, and one past Chairman elected in December 1942 simply know as “The Major”, real name Major Milbourne Clark JP. A lifelong bachelor, he had an unceasing interest in the welfare of young people of the surrounding area. As a Scout leader of 40 years, much of which was as a District Commissioner, he purchased a piece of land known as Squirrel’s Wood at Burghwallis NR. Doncaster and gave it as a gift to the Doncaster, Mexborough and Maltby Scouts Association. He also worked hard for the RSPCC. He also helped other charities that his workforce supported locally.
Oakwell, its trademarks, beer fonts can be traced back to building of the Hall. A length of wallpaper in rich browns, red and green was found when the Company took over Beevor Hall in 1922. It is significant because it represents the colours of the trademark used by the brewery. The brewery grounds are said to have been celebrated for both a well and an oak tree. Indeed, the original Oakwell stream still ran into the steeping cistern of what was once a malting. Ever since beer began to be made upon the premises, they have been called, as they are today, beers of Oakwell Brewery. On the old wallpaper this is spelt “OAK-WELL BREWERY”, and the design originally surrounded by wild roses shows a girl at a well under an oak. Also shown is a steam tractor – a rarity in those days – with heavily rimmed wheels and a coal tender, driven by a man wearing a bowler hat. Today’s trademarks have evolved into pump clips, fonts and drip mats. The ones used today by the Company to signify Barnsley Bitter, pump clips and drip mat, show water being diverted from a well pump under an oak. The Oakwell Lager pump font depicts the latter scene, of traction engines. Further links from the past include the use of four vigorous mottoes that were originally used by Barnsley Brewing Company, in which it attempted to link the brewery with Britain’s other expanding industries of the time. The original drawings and wallpaper were reinforced by the use of: “Coal and Iron England’s Greatest Wealth”, “Working Men England’s Greatest Strength”, “No More Bad Trade At Home”, “No More Horse Corn from Abroad” and for good measure the bottom rim adds: “Steam verses Horses – Traction Engines – Home Production – Work for the Million.”
The Seniors took innovations seriously and indeed kept up to modern times. The brewery traction engines used to pull drays. A picture of this depicted a traction engine puffing down a country road under the direction of a man who usually walked ahead of it to wave a flag. Hedges with curly leaves border the road; behind their cover a policeman crouches like a leopard. For the driver of the traction engine is committing an act of reckless lawlessness – he is driving to the public danger at a speed of over four miles an hour. – Some things never change, an early speed trap!! Many times the Senior family was fined for allowing their driver to rush through Yorkshire at this hair raising pace. Guy Senior welcomed the court cases and the fines, for they proved the enterprise of the brewery in keeping ahead of the times with such rapid deliveries. On the third occasion he told the Bench at the time, that he considered these penalties were first rate advertising value – indeed he added, he would gladly pay £10 to Beckett’s Hospital for every subsequent conviction.
The demise of Barnsley Brewing Company can be traced back to the first part of 1957 when a Mutual trading agreement between it and John Smith’s Tadcaster Brewery was signed. The agreement meant that certain products of each company could be offered for sale in the houses owned by each other. To facilitate the operation of this mutually beneficial arrangement, Mr. W.E. Harbord, one of the joint managing directors of John Smith’s was Appointed to the board of the Barnsley Company, thus starting the relationship with Courage Group in later years.
RBNB
The present owners of the brewery purchased the land and buildings from Courage Group in 1994. Previous to this Courage group had ceased to produce beer on the site in March 1976, after a period of some 120 years. Courage Group used the site from 1976 to 1992 as a distribution depot for its products. In 1992, Courage closed the distribution centre and left the premises to decay. It was purchased by the company in 1994.
The first production of the new owners was Barnsley Bitter produced on the 7th January 1997 and distributed to its estate of managed community pubs on 14th January 1997. Bitter made with a traditional recipe from the Brewing Books dating back to 1947, Original Gravity of 1035 or 3.2% by Volume. Today’s beer is brewed to 3.8% by volume. Later the brewery added, lagers and a mild to the range. The lagers, Acorn at 3.8% by volume, Oakwell 5.0% by volume and Old Tom (a Mild) of 3.4% by volume.
The estate currently consists of 30 community pubs all managed, located in; Nottingham, Mansfield, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Southport, Carlisle, Horncastle, Telford, Droitwich, Crewe and Flint.
The Brewery current output to its managed houses an average of 102 barrels per week. Free trade sales are limited, but it is hoped to increase this through independent outlets.
The future, we are currently looking at producing a cider and the bottling of our beers and lagers.