COURAGES BREWERY HORSELEYDOWN
COURAGES BREWERY PARALLEL TO TOWER BRIDGE
Courages brewery, can be found literally a stones throws distance, from the wonderful sight of Tower bridge, designed by the architect Horace Jones, the bridge was built between 1886-1894. Horace Jones, became architect, & surveyor in the City of London in 1864, taking over from James Bunstone Bunning, who designed the Metropolitan Cattle Market in north London in the 1850's. The market, I am very familiar with, as I have had the honour of studying & guiding inside its 150ft clock tower. Horace Jones other architectural marvels, include Smithfield, Billingsgate, & Leadenhall market. I must say, that if you love London, these buildings are a must to visit, with history spanning as far back to when the Romans, were building there walled city, & road system. The site of the," Anchor", known as, "Horselydown", derives its name from a field where horses would pasture & rest overnight. The horses literally were lying down, hence,"Horselydown Lane".
FAMILY CONNECTIONS
BERMONDSEY BORN AND BREED
I was born & raised in Southwark, which makes me really proud to be able to share with you, some memories of the connection I have with Courages. Writing this page, has helped me to understand the history of our fascinating city. Thinking back through my childhood, one of my earliest memories was tasting beer for the first time. Believe it or not, the first beer I ever tasted was Courages light ale, which came in small brown bottles. I never thought that much of it until a couple of years ago, whilst out with a few work colleagues, I noticed the unique brown bottle staring at me from inside the fridge behind the bar, with its bold golden cockerel logo calling to me to see if I remembered the unique taste of hops that I scrunched my face up to all those years ago. Nothing had really changed much except that the logo was more streamlined with its modern twist, but boy did it bring back some memories. I have fond memories of my childhood. Living at the Elephant & Castle, we would visit our uncles, who lived in flats that over look the Oval Cricket ground in Kennington. Living at the Elephant & Castle, we would visit our uncles, who lived in flats that over look the Oval Cricket ground in Kennington
shad thames
This was fantastic as it meant my Dad was able to introduce me to the enthralling game of cricket, as the Oval is the home of Surrey County Cricket Club. The ground also plays host as a venue used in Englands Test, & one day internationals. It would often be the case, that I was able to lean out of the window, to watch the likes of England legends Sir Ian Botham, & Bob Willis M.B.E. tussle against the likes of Sir Viv Richards, & Michael Holding, stalwarts of probably the best West Indies side, the game will ever see. I used to laugh, because my Uncle Johnny, used to be sat in front of the television watching the cricket, that I was watching from the window in the other room, with a transistor radio planted next to his ear, listening to the football. It was my Uncle Johnny, who had a real connection with Courages, as he used to work at their bottling plant. He would then be given a crate of light ale, which his brother Uncle George would throughly enjoy. Another Uncle of mine Uncle Charlie also had connections to Courages brewery as he used to work in the breweries boiler room.
JOHN COURAGE ST JOHN HORSELEYDOWN
The Anchor brewhouse was the brain child of John Courage. The brewery was set up on the banks of the Thames, in 1787. John Courage was a Scottish shipping agent of French Hugenot descent. The Hugenots were a religious sect, who were part of the French Protestant church. Under severe persecution during the reign of King Louis XIV, to escape tyranny many immigrated to the British Isles. John Courage died in 1797 he had a son who was John Jr was only 3 at the time. His mother therefore had to bring in outside help. A senior brewery clerk named John Donaldson was hired so the brewery was known as Courage & Donaldson until 1888, when it became Courage & Co.
john courage jr
When John Courage Jr came of age, taking over his fathers legacy, the brewery went from strength to strength. Again, as I have said previously, the founders of more or less all of the largest London breweries, would give their male siblings their own name. Therefore, John Courage Jr named his son John Courage made the brewery into a brewing giant.
John Courage Jr the son of John Courage died in 1854. The Industrial Revolution, was engulfing the whole of the United Kingdom by this time. To increase productivity, a steam engine was installed ,to keep up with Londons population explosion, demand for beer. In 1871 the brewery was rebuilt the next couple couple of decades alterations were made to leave us with the building that stands proudly next to Tower Bridge. I don't know if i was imagining things but often on a Sunday morning my Dad would take myself, my brother, & sister, to the banks of the River Thames to feed the seagulls, whilst my mum cooked us a delicious Sunday roast dinner. Looking at the Courages brewery, opposite by the Tower of London I remember it used to have a large COURAGES sign attached to the upper part of the building.
COURAGE BARCLAY PERKINS BANKSIDE
HEAD BREWERS RESIDENCE BOROUGH/BANKSIDE
The Courage story continues when the powers that be, decided that a merger needed to take place to move from the elaborate, & gothic style design that was the brainchild of the architects Inskip & McKenzie to a larger organisation. Barclay Perkins, Anchor Brewery, used to be a vast brewery on the banks of the Thames, built on the original site of the,"Globe Theatre", made famous by the poet, & playwright William Shakespeare. The merger between the two breweries, took place in 1955.
Southwark used to be the mainstay of London's gambling, prostitution, crime, renowned for total debauchery. It was the place where the capitals, wealthiest aristocrats, would cross the River Thames, either by London Bridge, or by using the vast network of London's watermen to enjoy the entertainment that was on offer. The area was renowned for its vast number of drinking establishments, ladies of the night, gambling dens, & theatre's.
These arenas would have the likes of bear/bull baiting taking place, pick pockets, con artists, ruffians taking advantage, of the rich pickings they could get from more affluent citizens, in the area experiencing the entertainment, the City of London wasn't encourage to provide. The likes of the Rose theatre built in 1587, the theatre known to be one of the 1st to show a play written Shakespeare. The original Globe theatre, was built in 1599, using timbers from a structure known as the ,'Theatre", on the other side of the river in Shoreditch. It is claimed that these timbers were acquired, when the owner of the lease of this building, wanted money owed by the players, resulted in them dismantling the building piece by piece, then transporting them across the river, to transform them into the Globe. However, in 1613 during a production of Shakespeare's Henry VIII, a pyrotechnic cannon misfired, igniting the wooden beams, burning the theatre to the ground. Opened a year latter, The Globe Theatres demise came about, when like all other forms of unruly entertainment, it was closed down under the rule of the Puritans in 1642.
THE ANCHOR BREWERY BANKSIDE
The Anchor brewery was established in 1616, by the late 1700's had become the worlds largest brewery, famous for it's brewing of Russian Imperial Stout. This style of beverage was adapted from porter, that was enjoyed by London's working classes, but also became the favoured drink of the Russian Imperial Court. To be able to survive the journey from London to Russia, extra hops were added, to stop the beer from spoiling. This had the effect of producing a drink of very high alcohol content. Throughout the 16 & 1700's the brewery changed hands in ownership, by the 1690's Edmund Halsey managed the business, he left his family home in St. Albans, with hardly any money in his pocket, enjoying a rags to riches career. He went from a millers boy, gaining employment at James Childs Anchor brewery, sweeping the stable yard to becoming clerk of the breweries counting house. His wealth, even helped him to become Member of Parliament to Southwark in December 1711, as a member of the Whig party.
After his death in 1729, the brewery was purchased by Ralph Thrale who was Edmund Halseys nephew & brewery manager, he bought the brewery for a price of £30,000 which took him 11 years in instalments to pay off.
Barclay Perkins & Co were next on the scene, formed in 1781 they took over the brewery from Henry Thrales widow. The partnership was formed between chief clerk, & Robert Barclay part of the Barclays banking family.
After a fire destroyed most of the brewery in 1832, the new premises became a visitors attraction. Famous characters such as the Prince of Wales, obviously not Prince Charles, Otto Von Bismark, Chancellor of the German Empire, the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general who helped contribute to Italian unification, creating the Kingdom of Italy. The Austrian general known as Julius Jacob Von Haynau, was another celebrity who payed the brewery a visit Haynau although a great military commander, was an extremely brutal, aggressive leader, gaining the reputation from his troops as the ,"Habsburg Tiger".
Unfortunately, this notoriety didn't gain him m favour, especially from the draymen at the Anchor brewery. When it was discovered he was in the area they attacked him throwing mud & dung at him along Borough High Street. He escaped by hiding in a rubbish bin, phew!!!
After the capitals thirst for porter had diminished, pale ale was the order of the day taking up most of the breweries endeavours. Then as the century changed into the early 1900's Barclay Perkins were involved in brewing lager from around 1922.
COURAGES TODAY
courages in its guises today
The companies merger with Barclay Perkins in 1955 to form the company Courage Barclay & Co Ltd lasted for only 5 years, with another partner being brought into the business. Readings based Simmonds Brewery. The name changed once again to Courage,Barclay, Simmonds & Co Ltd. By October 1970 the name changed again to just Courage Ltd with the company being taken over by the Imperial Tobacco Company in 1972. This company had the advantage of having a huge brewery at Worton Grange which is on the border of Reading & Shinfield which they opened in 1978, which meant that by 1981 the Anchor brewery closed it doors with all brewing being done at the Worton Grange site.
more mergers continue
The Hanson Trust bought out Imperial Tobacco in 1986 who sold off Courage to Elders IXL who later became known as Foster's Brewing Group in 1990. Grand Metropolitan acquired the Courage arm of Foster's. Courage public houses were run by a joint company Inntrepreneur Estates, then Scottish & Newcastle bought Courage from Foster's in 1995.
Today as it stands all the rights for the production, marketing & sales of the Courage brand belongs to Wells & Young's Brewing Company. You can buy Courage products from their website https://couragebeers.co.uk/ I recently bought some Courage Light Ale from a nearby supplier to enjoy a drink to celebrate VE Day. I wasn't disappointed.