The Weighbridge Inn reopens it’s doors this Saturday at 12:00 under the management of new owners Muirhouse Brewery from Ilkeston.
“Everyone is asking about changes to the Weighbridge Inn, well where do I start …” says Mandy Muir.
“We’ve redone the cellar and put a brand new chiller unit in so hopefully there’ll be no warm beer? We’re going to be serving four real ales and aim to have two Muirhouse and two guests but that might not be possible all the time!” Mandy laughs, it’s been a busy few weeks for her and husband Richard. “There’s going to be two traditional ciders on served through a pump not warm off the back of the bar lol. We’re having Bitburger lager on too, no Carling! There will be a keg ale but that won’t be straight away.”
There will be no grand opening, just a friendly welcome and an excellent choice of drinks in Burton’s cosiest pub.
“Until tomorrow I don’t know the exact ales that will be on,” explains Mandy. “There’s two from Norwich in the cellar, one from Abstract Jungle in Langley Mill, a beer from North Cotswold and a couple from Black Country Ales …”
Nothing from Muirhouse: “Yes, Ilson Giant at 5.1%.”
For those not familiar with the local dialect, the hometown of Muirhouse has an aversion to consonants, so Ilkeston is know locally as Ilson, although the pumpclip reads Ilkeston Giant.
There have been a few cosmetic changes to the pub, it has had a paint job for a start.
“We’ve hung a Maltsters Shovel on the wall, it was given to Richard on his 40th birthday from a friend who’s Dad worked in the maltings in Suffolk,” says Mandy. The pub is far from the finished product, the Muir bank balance will just be glad to get the doors open. “Other changes will be made slowly but we are hoping that you the customer will lead us in to what you would like to see happen in there.”
Oh and there are rumours of a brewery football team if anyone fancies putting a side together …
On Saturday The Devonshire Arms a.k.a The Devvie hosted their first beer festival since the pub was taken over by Carl and Nicki Stout a few months ago. Billed as “A Showcase of Burton Beers”, it did just that with beers from all seven Burton breweries: Marston’s, Coors, Burton Bridge, Tower, Heritage, Burton Town and Gates.
“Tower Imperial IPA sold out first,” says Carl, before adding, “All the Burton beers went by 9.30pm!”
“Overall the Showcase of Burton Beers was a tremendous success!” Nicki summarises. “All the beers were well received and feedback we’ve had back from customers has been very positive and people have been commenting that the atmosphere and the value for money (alongside the ale choice) were the main highlights.”
The pub Tweeted a few videos throughout the day, showing the place packed to the rafters with drinkers enjoying the very best Burton has to offer.
“As you can imagine it was very well attended, beyond our expectations actually. Fantastic!” Beans Carl. “We’d just like to thank everyone who attended and look forward to seeing them all again!”
The Devvie is a Freehouse and along with Burton Bridge ales, offers an ever changing beer board. The pub is planning their next festival Beer & Sausage Festival in September, date to be announced later in the year.
This Saturday, for one day only, The Devvie on Station Street, Burton upon Trent is holding its first Beer Festival since it was taken over by Carl and Nicki Stout earlier this year. The theme is as brilliant as it is simple, “A Showcase of Burton Beers.”
The idea appeared to Landlord Carl in a flash of inspiration: “It just came out of nowhere! My initial thought was to have a Geordie Beer Festival, with all beers from the North East, which is close to my heart. Then I thought we’ve got several breweries on the doorstep and it gives something back to the town. I don’t believe it has ever been done before, due to conflicts of interest; if it was a Bass pub they wouldn’t serve Marston’s etc. … but as a Free House we can put on what we like.”
Expect beers from all the Burton brewers: Marston’s, Burton Bridge, Heritage, Burton Town, Tower and Gates. Carl hasn’t decided on his starting line up will be but it is likely to be: Bridge Bitter, either Golden Delicious or 61 Deep, St. Modwen’s, Tower Imperial, Gates Burton Ale, Reservoir Gold, Burton Town Modwena and Bass.
“All the
beer is in the cellar, all resting, all ready to go,” Carl says before further
explaining the logistics of such an event. “You’ve got to get the beer in
early; there’s no point getting it Wednesday and serving it Saturday, the
majority have been down there for ten days. All the beers are hard-pegged and
in prime condition, so by Saturday they should be absolutely tip top. It’s all
about the preparation and managing your cellar.”
All of the
beer will be on hand-pull, even the Reservoir Gold: “There’s a lot of people
looking forward to that one so I imagine it’s not going to be hanging around
long. If I was a betting man I’d say Gates’ will be one of the first to go,
Stuart’s beer is such that when you put one down, you want another one, it has
drinkablility and that’s good for the Brewer and the Landlord.”
“A Showcase
of Burton Beers” is being used to gauge the level of interest for the return of
the Beer & Sausage Festival that was a fixture at Carl and Nikki’s last pub
The Bridge; the date has not been set, but expect it to be late September.
“They were
hugely popular at the Bridge but this is a different pub, we may not have the
same volumes, we may have more! At the Bridge we had 36 beers over a two and a half
day event and that’s not including what we sold in the pub; that’s a tremendous
amount of beer and it is a huge financial commitment,” Carl admits. “We were
lucky enough to sell out nine times out of ten. Even though it’s the same
model, it’s new premises and logistically things are different and we haven’t got
the central yard.”
Saturday
will also feature music and food, with Dave O’Hara playing an acoustic set at
around six o’clock, but the festival is really all about the beer and offers the
chance to compare and contrast what Burton has to offer.
“It will create
interest as some people think Bass is not as good as Pedigree or Burton Town
isn’t as good as the Tower … it’ll give people an opportunity to go through the
card, so to speak, to try them like for like and make up their minds what they
like best.”
The Devvie
is a pub proud of being traditional: “Some of these modern beers haven’t got
drinkability as they’ve got such complex flavours it baffles you. I am very
traditional in the beers that I like and the majority of people who come in
here like a traditional pint. This is a busy pub, we sell a lot of beer, we are
surrounded by pubs who sell a lot of beer, so there’s a market out there for
it. We are trying to get the best beers in, keep the quality good and sell an
awful lot of it. The more you sell, the better it is, the better it is the more
you sell because of the turnover. It’s not rocket science but there’s a lot of
people who get it wrong.
“A Showcase of Burton Beers” runs from midday on Saturday 6 July and provides a unique opportunity to sample the best of Burton all under one roof. Do not miss this one!
No. 1 Horninglow Street can be seen on the right of the photograph.
No. 1 Horninglow Street sits near the junction of High Street, Bridge Street and Wetmore Road; it currently forms part of the shop Spirit Games. A plaque by the door shows its previous life as apartments and 150 years ago it served as a private house for William Wright of Ratcliff & Wright, Druggists & Grocers at 102 High Street. Unusually for a brewing town like Burton upon Trent there appears to be no connection to that industry, so why have brewers Marston’s named a beer after the house?
It is important to preserve history wherever possible; not everything was documented in the past, or if it was it may not have survived to present day but if it has then it should be respected. Genuine mistakes do happen of course, words can be misread in historical documents (many being handwritten), facts are open to misinterpretation etc. An excellent example of this is the date of the formation of what was latterly known as Ind Coope Burton Brewery. Like many modern breweries this was a product of amalgamations, buy outs and name changes, but the roots of the business can be traced back to the 1700’s to an inn on High Street called “The Bloo Stoops” (in modern terms, where Molson Coors offices sit), where a gentleman called Benjamin Wilson started to brew. The literature appears confused around the actual year, some sources claim 1708 but the correct date is 1742, as shown in deeds later held in the Samuel Allsopp archive (Allsopp took over the business from Wilson’s son and it later merged with Ind Coope in 1934).
No. 1 Horninglow Street’s plaque.
The mix-up can be traced back to a misinterpretation by Historian J. S. Bushnan in his 1853 work “Burton and its Bitter Beer”, he misunderstood a line from the 1798 book “History and Antiquities of Staffordshire” by Dr. Shaw. Shaw mentioned a brewer called “Benjamin Prilson” who founded his business in 1708 in Horninglow Street. Bushnan presumed “Prilson” to be a misspelling of “Wilson”, and the error was then compounded when Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd. started quoting this in the company magazine in the 1940’s. This historical “fact” became accepted as true due to it being from a credible source. One thing Bushnan did get right was that “Prilson” was a misspelling, however it should have read “Benjamin Printon”, who is accepted as the first Common Brewer in the town.
From Barnard. Horninglow Road runs from the bottom middle diagonally to the right, Dover Road (Patch Lane) is on the left and Rolleston Road to the right. Note the staggered junction that still exists.
The 1889 classic “The
Noted Breweries of Great Britain & Ireland Vol. II” by Alfred Barnard
states that John Marston established a brewery on what is now the corner of
Horninglow Road North and Dover Road (then called Patch Lane) in 1834; Barnard
even included a drawing of the site from the spire of the Parish Church of St
John The Devine. This location and the drawing would appear in the book “A
Brewer of Pedigree” published by Marston’s in 1999 and written by Khadija
Buckland from research by the official Marston’s Historian Eric Fower, making
it credible and historically correct.
Historians fulfil
various roles, research, education and preservation of the past, which is why
when Marston’s announced a new beer under the name of “No. 1 Horninglow
Street”, it caused some consternation. “The Horninglow Street speciality beers
have been named after the original brewery John Marston’s (sic) started brewing
at in 1834, the Horninglow Brewery in Burton upon Trent” read the press
release, which is all very well and good but why choose to name the beer after
a real place that has no connections to Marston’s?
When approached about the issue, it was obvious that their Marketing Department wasn’t aware that Horninglow Street already existed; they’d taken the place Horninglow and added Street for effect. Now not for a second is it inferred this was done intentionally, like Bushnan’s “Prilson” this is a genuine mistake, but it is one that needs correcting. When an official statement about the discrepancy was requested for, the following was supplied: “The Horninglow Street beer series has been named after Marston’s original brewery site, Horninglow Brewery, and Marston’s maltings on Horninglow Street.” Trent & Dove now occupy the site of the Maltings on Horninglow Street, but isn’t it odd to name a beer after the location of a Maltings when it is supposed to be about the brewery which was over a mile away?
Burton Civic Society plaque for No. 5 Horninglow Street.
Why this article,
why all the fuss? Surely no one really cares as long as the beer tastes good?
It is about expectation; if a brewery quotes their history, especially one as
old and as respected as Marston’s, then people have every right for this to be
correct. What has been done here is at best misleading and at worst wrong.
Unless the brand
name changes there are more gaffes ahead as the series progresses; when they
reach “No. 5 Horninglow Street” this is the site of Clay House, previously home
to John Wilders / Joseph Clay’s Lamb & Flag Inn Brewery, next is “No. 6
Horninglow Street” which William Newton / Charles Leeson’s brewery, all of
which surely defeats the object of celebrating Marston’s Horninglow Brewery!
Burton Civic Society plaque for No. 6 Horninglow Street.
To conclude, it isn’t the intention for this post to be controversial and cause any embarrassment for Marston’s, it simply fulfils the remit of protecting history and how important is it to get the facts? You decide.
James Porter certainly rates as one of Burton’s lesser known brewers, which is why it is interesting that one of his recipes has been re-imagined by Heritage Brewing Co. who are based at the National Brewery Centre. This is perfectly in keeping with the brewery’s mission to recreate old beers for a modern audience; other ales from Heritage are Charrington IPA, Offilers Best Bitter and of course Masterpiece which is based on Worthington White Shield.
Porter bought his Dale Street brewery from the Bryan Brothers around 1879, as he was a partner in Liverpool brewer Sykes and living in Everton, he left the running of the business James Porter & Sons, to his two oldest sons John and Frederick.
The newly re-imagined beer X Porter, along with the likes of XX Porter Strong Ale, No. 1, No. 2 … is at least 130 years old as records exist of it being produced in 1889 and it was likely sold in Porter’s only Burton pub The Millwright Arms on New Street.
The Dale Street brewery closed following the purchase of Robinson’s Brewery, where James’ younger son Gerald would later become a Director. James Porter’s Grandson, also called James, joined Newcastle Breweries and would be instrumental in the production of Newcastle Brown Ale in 1927.
“The James H. Porter recipe has been adapted to the Heritage Brewing Companies capabilities as directed by Steve Wellington (Head Brewer retired) so it is not an exact like for like reproduction,” says Caroline Horobin. “The recipe requires Fuggles hops which we have sourced from Kent Life, another visitor attraction that Planning Solutions (owner of Heritage Brewery Company) operate. They are based in Kent and have a small acreage of hops which are hand-picked by volunteers and then dried by them in the last gas fired Oast House in Kent.”
X Porter is certainly a beer steeped in history and is described as having complex malt aromas with a hint of liquorice and smokiness; it is smooth and easy to drink with a rich brown colour. You can sample this at the Brewery Tap at the National Brewery Centre who always have Heritage beers on sale.
The last 12 months have been rather turbulent for The Weighbridge
Inn on Derby Street, Burton upon Trent. First it changed hands with George and
Walter selling the lease to the Burton Old Cottage Beer Company, and then there
a few issues over the hot summer with the chiller in the cellar failing; however
just when things were looking up, the brewery found itself put up for sale in
spring of this year. It brewed its last pint in March and has since closed,
with the pub following suit. A sad story.
Richard Muir brewing with his original kit
Enter Muirhouse Brewery from Ilkeston, whom Burton drinkers
may be familiar with, as their beers have been on at The Last Heretic and more
recently at Bodell’s in Swadlincote. Founded ten years ago by Richard and Mandy
Muir in their garage using a tiny 100 litre kit, they eventually moved to their
current premises on the Manners Industrial Estate in Ilkeston in 2011.
“Whilst working a high-profile job full time, Richard brewed
all day on a Sunday and looked after our son whilst I worked in the local
supermarket,” explains Mandy Muir. “On February 15th 2011, Richard’s 40th
birthday, he took ownership of a two-barrel kit, June 2011 saw the brewery
become Richard’s full-time job.”
The Weighbridge Inn will be the couple’s third pub,
following one in Ilkeston and The Last Post in Derby.
“We are installing new equipment in the cellar so that the
beers are served at the correct temperature,” says Mandy. “We pride ourselves
on quality, so there won’t be any issues there! Everyone remembers bad
experiences we want ours to shout how good it is. We are also installing new
keg fonts to serve Bitburger Lager and also the traditional cider, I don’t like
seeing boxes of cider on the back of the bar and served warm.”
The plan is to have four handpulls, two Muirhouse beers and
two guests, although don’t expect to see the same Muirhouse beers on all the
time, as unlike many breweries they do not have a core range of beers.
“We like to keep both sets of customers interested in buying
our beers. A little bit like a sweet shop you never know what you’re going to
get? We brew twice a week and make eight different beers a month to keep our
customers interested. A pub that has the same beers week in week out is boring!
As they say variety is the spice of life.”
So then, a new start for the Weighbridge Inn: “We feel that
the right place became available at the right time and we have no plans to
change the name as it fits in with the surroundings.”
Although no date has been announced, expect The Weighbridge to be open for business in the very near future.
“No. 1 Horninglow Street” is the
first in a series of one off brews from Burton upon Trent brewers Marston’s; fittingly
it is an India Pale Ale, the beer synonymous with the town. Marston’s are the
town’s oldest brewers, with a rich history that can be traced back to 1834,
when founder John Marston bought a small brewery situated in the village of Horninglow.
Initial workup on the 7.4% IPA was
done in the DE14 Nanobrewery and only when Head Brewer Pat McGinty was satisfied
was it scaled up for the iconic main Brewhouse. Fermentation began in Squares
and after two days it was transferred into a Burton Union for a further five
days. Comprising of 24 interlinked 150 gallon oak barrels, the once ubiquitous
Burton Union are now used only by Marston’s and preserve a vital link to the
history of brewing and sit in the “Cathedral of Brewing” Union Room.
Normally the Burton Unions are
reserved exclusively for Pedigree (every drop of cask Pedigree is Union
fermented), so “No. 1 Horninglow Street” is certainly a very special beer. Low colour
pale ale malts, late and dry hopped with four hop varieties (Goldings,
Sovereign and Ernest from the UK and Cascade from the USA) this ale has a
gentle honeyed aroma with hints of apricot and crisp citrus notes on the
palate. The beer is bottle conditioned, so will continue to mature over time.
There will be 32,000 500ml bottles,
all individually numbered and packaged in a special box. In an unusual move the
beer will not be sold in Burton supermarkets, but if you can get to the nearest
Waitrose in Lichfield then it is retailing at £4.50 a bottle.
As for the next beer in the series;
how about a Russian Imperial Stout or a Barley Wine, perhaps even a recreation
of a traditional Burton Ale?
The Beertonian swung by Clarence Street this evening to check on the Goat weathervane who sits on top of the Goat Maltings that once belonged to the Peter Walker Brewery following the recent fire.
“It did get rather hot on Saturday,” said the Goat laughing. “I was beginning to think Roast Goat was going to be on the menu.”
Any idea what happened?
“No not really, I was happily keeping watch over the town, which I’ve done for nearly 140 years, when suddenly the air was filled with thick black smoke and then the sound of sirens. I could vaguely make out the blue lights below.”
“It was strange being the centre of attention! I really didn’t know that so many people cared about me,” said the Goat with a tear in his eye.
Getting emotional Goat?
“Never! I’ve got some soot in my eye and it’s really hard to hold a tissue with cloven hooves. Could you give it a wipe please?”
The view down Clarence Street at 20:00 today. Note the two columns of smoke.
The iconic
Goat Maltings on Clarence Street in Burton upon Trent are currently on fire. The
main column of smoke is rising from the unique octagonal malthouse with more
coming from a roof vent at the far end of the building.
The Grade
II Listed Maltings once formed part of The Clarence Street Brewery built by the
Trustees of the Late Peter Walker, the entire premises were accepted as the
most ornate of all the Victorian Burton Breweries. The original brewery was erected
in 1883-84 by Lowe and Sons of Burton and designed by the Architects G. Scamell
and R. C. Sinclair. The Maltings take their name from the beautiful copper goat
weathervane.
Showing the Goat Maltings on the left and the now demolished brewery on the right in May 1977 (Photograph copyright Robin Jeffcoat)
Peter
Walker was originally from Warrington and moved to Burton, where his brother
Andrew Barclay Walker had already established a brewery. Tragically before his
brewery was finished, Peter died, so the company became known as The Trustees
of the Late Peter Walker. Brewing ceased in 1929 and the site was sold to
Maltsers Yeoman, Cherry and Curtis.
Peter Walker’s Strong Ale
As yet the
extent of the damage and the cause of the fire are unknown, but it is looking
likely that Burton is about to lose another part of its rich brewing history.
The Devonshire Arms (known locally as The Devvie) has stood on Station Street, Burton upon Trent since the 1840’s, when it was owned by the Appleby family. It became part of the estate of James Eadie & Son in 1888, who brewed a stone’s throw away on Cross Street and after Eadie’s sold to Bass in the 1920’s, The Devvie followed suit and became a Bass pub. Bass later sold the premises to Ind Coope where it became one of their flagship houses in the 1980’s. Following the Bass takeover of Ind Coope The Devvie changed hands again and was bought by Burton Bridge Brewery who maintained the green and gold Ind Coope identity.
The Devvy
Today it is a Freehouse under the ownership of Carl and Nicki Stout, who ran the Burton Bridge pub for the last ten years. They bought The Devvie on 18 February 2019. Carl and Nicki have a long and varied history in the pub trade.
“My wife has always been involved in the licencing trade,”
says Carl. “She worked behind the bar and was then Assistant Manager at the
Fettler & Firkin pub chain in Nuneaton. We used to drink in the Wetherspoon’s
when we lived in Nuneaton and saw the application for Trainee Pub Managers, we applied,
got it, we put our house up for rent, quit our jobs and ended up working for
Wetherspoon’s in North London in 1997. We worked at the Moon on the Hill in
Harrow for twelve months, then moved to Cambridge and then to the Lord Burton
as Managers in our own right, where we stayed for three and a half years.”
It was through managing the Lord Burton that Carl and Nicki
first met Geoff Mumford and Bruce Wilkinson of Burton Bridge Brewery; this was
the start of a long term partnership.
“They offered us the Devonshire as a tenancy, which we ran
for five years. When Kevin left the Bridge we were offered that and we ran that
as a tenancy for ten years and then we came back here as Freeholders.”
Landlord Carl Stout
What it is that makes The Devvie such a special place?
“It’s a fantastic building, one of the oldest pubs in the
Burton and the location!” reckons Carl. “It’s a town centre pub but with a
large local cliental means we have a lot of locals but we also get a lot of
passing trade, people using the Indian Restaurants … we get a broad spectrum of
customer.”
The Devvie forms part of what is unofficially known as “The Station Street Run”, this also includes The Roebuck, The Last Heretic and The Cooper’s Tavern. Such a concentration of excellent pubs all within staggering distance of each other is one of the reasons that people still flock to Burton for the beer!
“When I follow Burton Albion away and talk to other supporters,
they all love coming to Burton,” reveals Carl. “When we got relegated, there
were a lot of Championship teams willing Burton to stay up so they could come
here for a drink! We had a coach full of Wolves fans turn up at the Bridge and
they sent us a Christmas card with a twenty pound note to thank us for the
hospitality.”
The Devvie is a football friendly place and welcomes both home and away fans, as long as they behave themselves: “When supporters come to Burton, there is no threat, intimidation or hostility towards away supporters. There’s no history or rivalries there.”
Although The Devvie is a Freehouse, Burton Bridge Brewery beers still feature heavily on the bar.
“One of the conditions of the sale was that I have to sell
three Burton Bridge beers for a period of time,” says Carl, not that this is
any hardship of course and it is easy to argue that this forms part of their
identity. “The Bridge Bitter is as good a bitter as you’ll get, the Stairway to
Heaven is a very popular drink and then I rotate the dark ones, so I have the
Top Dog Stout, the Damson Porter and the regular Porter. Even if I was free of
tie I would still have two Burton Bridge beers on.”
Along with the Bridge beers Carl has four guests: “I don’t
pick guest ales that are off the wall, I go for drinkability. We always have a
light one around 3.8%, two around the 4.5-5.0% mark and typically a stronger
one. With the three Burton Bridge and four guest ales I think we cover all
bases in terms of strength and tastes.”
If you have attended one of Carl and Nicki’s annual Beer and
Sausage Festivals at The Bridge, the good news is that these are set to
continue.
“We are planning on having a festival at the end of
September / beginning of October. Logistically it’ll be a bit different, we
have got an outside area but it’s not quite as perfect as it was at the Bridge,
but I am sure there are ways around it.”
The popular food nights are also staying: “At the Bridge we
started doing a Steak Night on a Tuesday, one of the quieter nights, this
proved a tremendous success. We have extended our range of themed evenings, we
do the burger night, the steak night, the fish night and we are trialling pizza
evenings as well. I don’t want to turn this into a food pub, it is a boozer
first and foremost, but it’s something my wife enjoys doing and it is all home
cooked food.”
Since February they have made a few tweaks to the pub, including
maps and historical pictures of Burton but generally Carl is happy with the
place: “It’s there or thereabouts. We’ve redecorated, put in new lighting,
pictures and the feedback has been very positive We will probably end up doing
something with the front bar next year, the garden isn’t too bad and then we
may look at repainting externally.”
Carl displays an obvious passion for being a pub Landlord, the pride he has in his beer and his premises are immediately apparent from the minute you walk in the The Devvie, mind you it isn’t as glamourous a job as some may think.
“After you’ve been in the pub trade for over 20 odd years,
your body clock is all over the place; split shifts, one hour splits, all day
shifts … but the worst thing is getting up early in the morning. Anything after
nine o’clock I’m not too bad, anything before … it’s a struggle,” he laughs. “I
work in the region of 55 to 60 hours a week, it’s the sort of job when you
don’t clock in and clock out.”
Carl’s favourite part of the job?
“Friday and Saturday evening, when the pub is full and
there’s a nice atmosphere, that’s when I really enjoy it. It’s the customers
that make a pub not the Landlord, we put things in place but it can’t happen
without the customers,” he says humbly.
The Devvie: one of the finest pubs in arguably the best town for beer in the country. What’s not to like?
