Brewers & Brands from yesteryear - Plymouth Breweries Ltd

Plymouth Breweries ashtray

As a collector of Breweriana I recently acquired an old ashtray with some strange branding in the shape of a barrel end. It was marked PB and after some research I realised this stood for Plymouth Breweries. This set me on the road to find out a little more about the brewery and what became of it.

Plymouth Breweries were originally established in 1889 and like some other breweries it was an amalgamation of many smaller breweries. In this case it was five breweries all Plymouth based except for the Saltash Brewery which lies across the Tamar. The Saltash Brewery closed, buts its buildings survived in one form or another until 1959 when they were demolished along with 50 houses and 10 shops to make way for the Tamar Road Bridge.

Brewing now centred around the Regent Brewery in Stonehouse, Plymouth - the other breweries were closed over the years. The company logo was either the entwined PB letters or an anchor. More breweries were acquired in later years including Torquay Brewing Co in 1897, plus the Ellacombe Brewery and St Mary Church Brewery again in Torquay in 1925. Plymouth Breweries would have operated hundreds pubs and 235 were listed when the brewery was finally closed. The fate of the brewery was sealed when it was taken over by Courage for the princely sum of £6.5 million in 1970. Courage continued to operate the brewery and valued its family ethos where it traded as Courage PB, but sadly this changed in the early 1980's and the last brew was in March 1984, the brewery then being closed.

Regent Brewery, Plymouth

Plymouth Breweries were known for their IPA No 1 and Devon Pale Ale, although in the later years they also brewed Plymouth Heavy, a rich dark mild that transferred in with the Courage takeover as it had previously been brewed by the Tamar Brewery, which Simonds (Courage) had taken over and ultimately closed in the preceding years. Heavy was a famous beer in the area and performed well in CAMRA beer festivals.

Other beers included the a Light Ale, Strong English Ale, a sweet Imperial Stout and there was even a Devonshire Cider. There was also a special commemorative ale called Mayflower Ale which was brewed in 1970 to mark the take over by Courage and to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620

The brewery operated to very traditional methods up to the time of its closure. It used open fermenting squares, dry hopped some of its beers and used wooden barrels long after its competitors had switched to metal. Its Shire horse drawn drays were also common place in the city as these were used to deliver to local pubs. An advertising slogan of the time stated, matured and mellowed in the wood - no artificial gas added. They would have used POS to support this claim and this is where the ashtray connection comes in as its clearly in the design of a barrel end using the slogan, matured in wood with the PB logo.

Today, there is little sign that Plymouth Breweries existed on the original site in Stonehouse. The Regent Brewery is long gone although the original frontage buildings are still present in Durnford St, but have been completely refurbished and there is no reference to their past life as part of the brewery.

One thing that does remain is a war memorial plaque to commemorate the fourteen men who worked for the brewery and fell in the Great War. This was originally located on the wall of the Brewery Tap (now a Marstons pub) that was part of the Regent Brewery. In 2002 the tablet was rescued and restored and is now set on the only remaining wall of the Anchor Brewery Building across the road, which was one of the original five breweries that amalgamated to form Plymouth Breweries.

I've enjoyed finding out a little about Plymouth Breweries and what became of them. At a time when the pace of new craft beers is ever changing its also good to look back and appreciate the past.

Plymouth Breweries War Memorial

Sources:
War Memorials Trust
The Lost Breweries and Beers of Britain - Brian Glover
Plymouth CAMRA
Brewery History Society
Geograph