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Beeby Brewery, also known as The North
Leicestershire Brewery, was situated in the small village of Beeby six miles NE of Leicester City centre. It started brewing as near as we can tell
around 1883-1884 and was owned by one Thomas Nuttall who was
a noted Stilton Cheese maker, as can be seen from his headed note paper. He was an extremely
wealthy man and was reputed to be the largest dairy farmer in Leicestershire by 1894, with branches at Sudbury, Uttoxeter
and Melton.
The brewery is clearly marked on the
1885 O/S Map as North
Leicestershire Brewery and was situated on a site adjacent to the
Barkby to Hungarton road, some 200 metres from the crossroads with
the South Croxton to Scraptoft road.
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Whether
Thomas Nuttall's cheese was made in the same building we do not
know. But from the 1900s picture it is clear that it was in fact a
purpose built brewery. The louvres on the front of the building
may have been for a malting floor, the brewery perhaps malting its
own barley.
Why build a brewery in Beeby? Most likely because prior to the
introduction of engine driven road transport, there would have been
a reasonable market for the ales as it was in the heart of hunting
country with many large country houses nearby such as
Quenby,
Baggrave and
Lowesby Halls which had large numbers of staff and many grooms.
Also the agricultural workforce would have been much larger without
the mechanization of today. There was also a tax free allowance on
beer for consumption by farm workers.
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Most of the information in this article is
taken from an Industrial Archaeological study under taken by a Mike
Bursnall in 1975. At the time of this study it was within some
peoples' memory that the brewery still functioned up until 1912/13,
brewing beer, although in 1908 Kelly’s lists it as a store for The
Midland Brewery. This company itself was acquired by Stretton’s
Derby Brewery Ltd. in 1902 but brewed until 1932 at Derby Road,
Loughborough. It would seem that Beeby was only brewing from 1884
to 1914. Manor farm was sold to Fielding Johnson Esq. in 1919, who
installed a tenant farmer, Mr. Pickard, who in turn used the
brewery buildings for his dairy. Sometime before this the brewery
was sold back or the lease returned by ‘The Midland Brewery Co.’ to
the Nuttall family or their heirs.
Information was forthcoming in 1975 of the brewery's last few
years from older villagers. It is known that the brewery field
where the well was sited was used for grazing the horses used for
pulling the drays. During winter these horses were stabled on the
brewery premises in buildings adjoining the old cottages.
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Mr Richardson of
Manor Farm Barkby was contracted to cut the hay in this field every
year to use as winter fodder and a stack was always built. This
being thatched by a Syston man, a Bill Sharpe, who had a reputation
for being a seasoned heavy drinker, and he was paid part in kind,
part in cash for his work at the Brewery. On one occasion “kind”
meant a firkin of beer which he is said to have consumed prior to
starting work one summer day, having walked from Syston at 4.00am
in the morning! Many older Syston residents testifying to his
drinking prowess. Mr. Richardson also collected the brewers grains
which had to be manually dug out from the mash tun with malt
shovels. (Editors note The Malt Shovel pub at Barkby was a home
brew pub, being the last but one brewing in the county, the last
being The Britannia Inn in Loughborough though we now have The Bell
Inn at East Langton, housing the Langton Brewery.
One of the last employees of the Brewery was John Jenning (who married Eliza Durrance at Beeby in 1898). He was engaged as a drayman and would deliver
the 18 gallon casks of beer to customers of The Midland Brewery in the vicinity. One of these was Douglas Wyatt, landlord of the Brookside Inn,
Barkby (around 1902-16) who received beer from Beeby and then commissioned Mr. Richardson, who was also the local carrier amongst other
things, to redeliver some of this beer to outlying off licences at Tilton and Cold Newton (a Mr. Plowman). This was often a long process due
to the gated roads in the area and the poor condition of many of these roads. When the brewery was in operation the mash tun was situated
in a building to the rear. The boiler house was to the right-hand end of the building hence the chimney stack in the photograph. Coppers
were downstairs below the malthouse. Barrels were kept in a cellar below the malting section the offices were to the rear of the front section.
The mash tun was said to be 20ft in diameter, constructed of oak staves some 2.1/2 inches thick and bound by iron hoops like a wooden
cask. This remained in the building for sometime after brewing ceased so enabling a Mr. Ted Nixen, a master carpenter, to dismantle the
woodwork from which he constructed some elegant furniture. What happened to the rest of the equipment is not known but what was left was
finally sold off during the conversion to the cottages that remain today.
Beeby Brewery Recollections
Loraine at The Cow & Plough lived in the cottages on the site of the brewery. She recalls a well in the garden that fed the brewery. Barry Lount
at the Cow & Plough remembers seeing a Beeby Brewery enamel sign sold at “Stubbies” at Queniborough when the fittings were auctioned off.
Beeby Brewery Letters from The Leicester Mercury
Dear Sir,
I was very interested in your article in
The Leicester Mercury of Beeby Brewery. My mother
was born at Beeby brewery in the village of Beeby in 1889. She would have been 10 or 11 so I wonder if it was her in the print you have. Her parents
were Job & Elizabeth Facer and it was a Brewery as such. She was one of 3 children (the youngest) & died in 1987 aged 98.
Kathleen Cumberlidge
Dear Sir,
In answer to the Mr. Leicester's Diary Article (in the Leicester Mercury) regarding Beeby Brewery, before retiring I was a builder and did work
for Barkby Hall Estates. One of the farms we did a lot of work at was at Beeby, farmed at that time by Henry North. This farm was at the back of
a row of red brick cottages that are on the left hand side of the road from Barkby, just before the crossroad's at Beeby. These cottages were always
known as the Brewery Cottages. I would suggest you enquire at the farm or Barkby Hall, as I am sure both could and would help.
A. J. West
Dear Sir,
I noticed the photo in the Mercury asking about details of Beeby Brewery. I have the book East of Leicester (compiled by Trevor
Hickman. Sutton, 1996. Shelfmark: YK.1997.b.3762) and on page 55 is another picture of the same. The reading underneath it
says “North Leicestershire Brewery”, constructed on the instructions of Thomas Nuttall in the late eighteenth
century, situated on the Barkby Road, 1900. Built as Beeby Brewery it was renamed the Midland Brewery at the time this photo was taken. The manager
was Job Facer. It’s a later picture as no people are in the photo, but a fence and gate have been put across the Front.
E. Muggleton
We also give thanks and acknowledgements to:
- J.A Morrison,
- B.A.A. Heath,
- Steve Harris,
- Mr.T.Yates,
- Brian Kirk
- and Mike Bursnall
who all provided information.
The Leicester Drinker Editor
This article appeared in the July/ August 1999
edition of The Leicester Drinker.
This page last updated: April 15, 2011
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