SURVIVING REMINDERS OF BRIGG'S RICH BREWING HISTORY

 

Ahead of pubs and licensed clubs in Brigg being permitted to reopen from April 12 if they wish to offer a limited 'table service' outdoors, there will be a whole lotta barrel shaking going on in beer stores and cellars as supplies are delivered and licensees get ready to welcome back thirsty customers with the easing of lockdown restrictions by the Government.
Some licensed premises obtain drink supplies through the companies which own them, while others are what's known as free houses and can take their pick of what's available on the open market.
But despite the fact that historic hostelries survive in the town after several centuries, there's little else to remind people today of our licensed trade's rich history - other than at the eastern end of the town centre.
A fading sign on the corner of a cottage adjoining the Britannia Inn, overlooking East Park, recalls when this pub was owned and operated by the Hull Brewery Company during the last century (see picture above right). Nearby, but latterly converted to residential accommodation, is the former Sutton, Bean brewery tower - another reminded of Brigg's ale-making past.
This Victorian company not only made its own beer, it owned many pubs across northern Lincolnshire which stocked its range of ales - delivered by teams of horse-drawn drays (pictured here).
Also still standing nearby, on Queen Street, is the former off-licence beer shop (now being used by the Palm Studio).
When the Sutton, Bean brewery shut down in 1924, the company sold its portfolio of pubs to a range of larger rivals. Sutton, Bean also had the Queens Arms on Wrawby Street.
Sergeants followed a similar course later in the 20th century. Also a Victorian concern, it produced award-winning ales using water drawn from a Castlethorpe spring in a brewery overlooking the Old River Ancholme. Among the firm's hostelries was the nearby White Hart, on Bridge Street.
Sergeants also had many pubs, and was still building them in North Lincolnshire in the late 1950s/early 1960s.
However, its licensed premises portfolio later passed into other hands and the last ales were made at Brigg's riverside brewery in 1967 prior to closure, with demolition of the buildings taking place during the following decade.
The fully-licensed Angel Hotel (now North Lincolnshire's Council's community hub) had an off-licence - latterly known as the Angel Wine Shop - situated between the hotel entrance off the Market Place and the top of Exchange Place. This former 'offie' is now occupied by La Finca restaurant.
Beer was also brewed for some years late in the last century by Bob Nicholson after he and wife Sue acquired the Queens Arms 'free house' on Wrawby Street, subsequently converting it into a licensed restaurant. Bob established his own micro-brewery - restoring commercial beer-making to the town after a gap of three decades.
When the Yarborough Hunt (closed since the mid-1960s) was eventually re-opened on Bridge Street it became the 'tap' outlet for real ales brewed at nearby Melton Ross, using Lincolnshire spring water and other local ingredients. This continues under a different company.
The Lord Nelson, in the Market Place, is owned and operated by the Snaith-based Old Mill Brewery which supplies its own beers to the Brigg hostelry, while major national company Wetherspoon's stocks a fine range of real ales made by various UK companies of note at its White Horse outlet on Wrawby Street.
The locally-owned Dying Gladiator, on Bigby Street, is also a free house.