Records of Hydes Anvil Brewery of Manchester
1887-1984
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Poor Rate Assessments 1908-1948; Sales Records 1938-1981; Bottle Samples 1925-1959; Managed House Cash Books 1984; Wages Books 1897-1913; Private Ledgers 1895-1983; Property Ledgers 1893-1916; Property Repairs Ledgers 1941-1983; Leases & Ingoings 1888-1933; Credit Rent 1887-1984; Nominal Ledgers 1890-1983; Bottled Ledgers 1897-1940; Cask Ledgers 1977, 1984; Photographs 1945-1966.
Place:/South Manchester/Manchester/Lancashire/England
Title:
Records of Hydes Anvil Brewery of Manchester
Date of work:
1887-1984
Reference number:
GB124.B.HYD
Level of description:
Fonds
Custodial history:
Hydes' Anvil Brewery Ltd. traces its origins back to c.1863 when Alfred Hyde and his brother Ralph went into partnership at the Crown Brewery, Audenshaw, about six miles east of Manchester. A poor water supply forced a move in 1870 to Ardwick, moving later (in 1882) to the Fairfield Street Brewery. On Alfred Hyde's death in 1880 his eldest child, Annie, then aged 20 years old, developed the brewery, running it for 56 years. Her success necessitated a further move, to larger premises at the Rusholme Brewery. The fourth and final move of the business to its present site was in 1899 when the Queens Brewery, Brookes Bar, Manchester, previously the home of the Greatorex Brothers, was purchased. The Company has carried on operations at this site ever since.
In December 1912 the Company was incorporated as a private limited company with the name Hydes' Queens Brewery Ltd. In March 1944 the Company's name was changed to Hydes' Anvil Brewery Ltd. (so as to include the Company's trade mark, first registered in 1895, in the name). In 1972 Hydes' Anvil Brewery Pension and Trustee Co.Ltd. was incorporated. Under the 1980 Companies Act the Company (which had been a public company under the 1948 Companies Act) reverted to being a private limited company with voting 'A' shares in family control. The Company remains entirely independent and the present management includes the fourth and fifth generations of the Hyde family. Hydes' are Manchester's smallest independent brewers.
The Brewery buildings date mainly from 1860 (no entry in Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South Lancashire, Penguin, 1969) but nowadays they house new equipment: stainless-steel fermenting vessels have been installed since 1970 and in 1981 the Brew House was completely re-equipped with the most modern plant, including a new mash tun.
The brewing methods used are entirely traditional and nowadays the Company produces four cask conditioned draught beers, and also a draught lager (the latter brewed with imported hops). Owing to increased overheads, the Bottling Department was closed in 1981 and supplies of bottled beers are now obtained from other brewers. In 1987 the Company stopped delivering their own beer, with the service being contracted out to British Road Services. The Company was always well known as brewers of stout, prior to the Second World War marketing three stouts in bottle, Oatmeal Stout, Brown Stout, and Extra Stout. In earlier years stout was also brewed for consumption on draught. The Oatmeal Stout was discontinued in 1965. The wine and spirits side of the business is nowadays on a reduced scale.
Nowadays the Company owns 50 public houses, most of which are within a radius of 30 miles of the Brewery, although there is a group of them in North Wales around the Wrexham area. New houses have been built in new areas in more recent years - for instance in Warrington in 1985 and in Runcorn in 1987. Hydes' free trade, which accounts for about 15 per cent of the business, stretches further afield to Yorkshire and up to Blackburn. together with a growing number of restaurants and cafe bars.
Source:
Deposited 19 December 1997 (accession number 1644) and 22 May 2001 (accession number 1731).
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedThis material is stored off site and we require 2 weeks notice in order to retrieve it.
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
Arrangement:Arranged by functionKeys to ledgers in GMCRO catalogue filing cabinet
Topics:
Record types:
COLLECTION
Language:
English
Record number:
7182802
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Total copies: 1