Web Page 1056
7^th July 2012

Top Picture: Brickwoods Sunshine Ales

Second Picture:  The Cobden Arms


Firstly I need your help. It has been suggested that I put some of the memories and stories about Drayton, Farlington and Cosham into booklet form. I have a printer who would do it for me and I envisage a 48 page A5 booklet with a colour cover. I think the retail price would be between £3.50 and £4.00. What I need to know is would anyone be interested in buying one at that price? Could you email me either possibly yes or no because if there is little interest I will not continue with the project. A simple yes or no please, it would help enormously.


End of request

                                                        Beer

Whatever you thought of their beers Brickwoods was the local brewery and were in Queen Street for almost 140 years. Here is a little of the history of the brewery.

In 1848 Henry Brickwood of the White Hart in Queen Street wrote to his sister-in-law Fanny suggesting that she came to Portsmouth and enter the licensed trade. Mrs. Brickwood must have liked the idea because she took her only son, Harry, from articles to a surveyor and  sent him on a week's brewing course, and so founded the firm of Brickwoods.

In 1851 Fanny Brickwood bought the freehold of The Cobden Arms in Arundel Street and along with it went a small brewery and also coal business. Fanny died in 1854, Harry following her eight years later. His two elder sons, John (later Sir John) and Arthur, were apprenticed to brewers. In 1872 they joined forces at the Cobden Brewery and using investments left by their father they acquired and moved into Long's Brewery in Commercial Road and in so doing gaining many licensed houses.

By now the firm of Brickwoods was on its way to success for within six years they moved to Bransbury's Hyde Park Road Brewery. At the same time they entered the wine and spirit trade. But they weren't to stay in Hyde Park Road long because by 1887 they needed to expand and this led them to the Penny Street Brewery in Old Portsmouth and then the last move to Jewel's Catherine Street Brewery. These new premises had plenty of space for expansion. The Lion Brewery was bought as was Pike, Spicer and Co. During the next 40 years Brickwoods acquired 10 other breweries. Perkins and Sons, Southampton, Forder and Co., Southampton, S and T. N. Blake, Gosport, Aldridge's, Southampton, Sprake Bros, Isle of Wight, Barlow & Co,Southampton, Smeeds of Southsea, Long & Co Ltd, Southsea, 1953 Portsmouth and Brighton United Breweries and its subsidiary, The Rock Brewery of Brighton. So it can be seen that by the time the Rock Brewery was acquired in 1953 Brickwoods had bought up most of the opposition.

In just over 100 years from a back street in Portsmouth the company had grown to supply much of the south coast.

Brickwoods was still a family brewery. John, grandson of Fanny Brickwood, died a baronet in 1932. John was succeeded as Chairman by Mr. Harry Brickwood and John's son, Sir Rupert Brickwood, was Deputy-Chairman of the company. Brickwoods could produce 252,000 gallons of beer a week and more than 4,000 dozen bottles of beer could be bottled every hour. Each year, more than 2,600 tons of malt and 350 tons of sugar were used. More than 110 tons of hops were consumed (Brickwoods beers had one of the highest hop content in the country). Each hour more than 1,500,000 gallons of water was used in the brewing. Extensions to the brewery costing more than £1,000,000 were completed in 1962. Each year Brickwoods customers paid more than £1,500,000 in duty on the beer they drank.

In the mid 1960's there was a plan to move the entire brewery complex to Fareham. These plans were scrapped and it was decided to allow Whitbread & Co to attain a large stake in the company. In 1953 STRONG & Co ltd. of Romsey had allowed a lot of their shares to bought by Whitbread's. In 1969 Whitbread's bought the rest of the Strong's share capital and the company was wholly absorbed. In 1970 Whitbread's did the same to Brickwoods. In 1973 the two brewing sites were 'brought together' under the banner of Whitbread Wessex. This lasted until 1983.

In April 1980 the Romsey bottling plant closed a year later the Portsmouth one closed.

June 1981 was the final date for brewing at Romsey and production transferred to Portsmouth, but the beer was sent back to Romsey for packaging.

But come September 1983 the Portsmouth site closed totally. Brewing transferred to Cheltenham and Romsey Supplied from Cheltenham & Magor. Two years later the Romsey site closed totally. New warehouse facility opened at Hedge End. All production and packaging was moved toCheltenham & Magor.

The Portsmouth site was demolished in 1989 except for front of building and part of rear wall and the Romsey site mostly demolished. Retaining just the Brewhouse and fermenting rooms for offices but luckily the malting were left alone as they are listed buildings.

So after many years of brewing and filling the Portsmouth air with the pungent smell of boiling hops all that remains of the site is one wall and a very large car park !!!!

I must thank the pgsclassof77 for much of the information in this article.

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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On this day 7^th July 1960-1965

On 09/06/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Bing Crosby presented with a platinum disc by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for estimated sales of 200 million records.

 On 09/07/1961 the number one single was Runaway - Del Shannon and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 09/07/1962 the number one single was Come Outside - Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 09/06/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Martin Luther King denounces JFK's civil rights policies.

On 09/07/1964 the number one single was House of the Rising Sun - Animals and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Room at the Top (ITV) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division One champions

 On 09/07/1965 the number one single was I'm Alive - Hollies and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.