A good wander with quite a few bits left behind, the site is now under demolition but the main Brewery building is being saved apparently.
Most of good bits are all in the top 2 floors of the brewery building so well worth a look around, there is also an empty pub on site which warrants a return visit. The security guy is still on the ball with cameras dotted about and demo workers all over the site in the day.
History
Brains is not as Welsh as you think! Our founder Samuel Arthur Brain was born in 1850 and brought up in Bristol, before moving to Cardiff to train as a brewer. He proved to be a very talented brewer and he quickly rose to become Manager of the Phoenix Brewery in Working Street.
In 1872 he had fulfilled many a man’s dream by marrying a girl whose father owned a brewery! It was Thomas’s brewery in St Mary Street Cardiff and having learnt his trade down the road, he bought the brewery from his wife’s family with the help of his uncle, Joseph Benjamin Brain, who was Chairman of the West of England Bank. The year was 1882 and the first pint of Brains Beer was brewed at The Old Brewery.
Brains quickly made a name for itself across Cardiff and in 1887 Samuel Arthur and his uncle purchased land next to the brewery to expand The Old Brewery at a cost of £50,000 - that’s the equivalent of over £5 million today. It was a massive investment increasing capacity to 50,000 barrels and included a central cellar that could hold 5,000 casks of ale.
As well as taking on the competition, Brains also took on the law to help it grow. The powerful Welsh temperance movement had led to The Welsh Sunday Closing Act of 1871, which prevented beer sales on the sabbath. But Brains circumvented that by building links with private social and working men’s clubs, which did not come under the jurisdiction of the law, opening up an additional 52 days-a-year of trading!
The success of the brewery made Samuel Arthur a wealthy man and he set out to control the local liquor business from grain and grape to glass by becoming a founder of the Cardiff Maltings Company and Chairman of Stevens & Sons, the largest wine & spirits merchants in South Wales. At the same time, he was busy building up a tied estate of pubs in the Cardiff area.
But his influence stretched far beyond the bar. He was elected to Cardiff Council in 1885 and became Lord Mayor of Cardiff in 1899. He died just three years’ later at the age of 53, but he had established a name that lives to this day in Cardiff, throughout Wales and far beyond. And under the leadership of his uncle Joseph Benjamin and his sons Joseph Hugh and William Henry the business continued to thrive under family ownership.
Trade remained brisk, so Brains commissioned the build of the New Brewery in Roath to complement production at The Old Brewery. In 1914 the build was complete, but Europe descended into war and the Government urged restraint in beer consumption to help the war effort. Under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the Government slashed pub opening hours and increased beer duty, halving demand and rendering the New Brewery superfluous to requirements in the short term.
Brains was bold enough to speak out against those trying to ban alcohol in 1916: “They have the effrontery to suggest that all men and women must be compelled to drink water. This is an insult to a hard-working, law-abiding, sober country”. And the pressure told - the growing public unrest at the shortage of beer stopped the War Cabinet adopting prohibition.
However, it was a difficult five years for the Company with the constant threat to the business of prohibition and the loss of many employees in the war, including Samuel Arthur’s Grandson, William Sweet-Escott, who was killed in action in 1918.
Brains Red Dragon had become the drink of Cardiff and dominated production at The Old Brewery for many years. The popular dark brew was nicknamed ‘Dark’ by Cardiffians and caught on so much that the legendary brew was renamed in their honour. The Red Dragon was then adopted as the Company’s trade mark.
Unlike other dark milds, which are predominantly sweet, Brains Dark is distinctively bitter, with a roasted aroma, spicy flavour and a hint of coffee. An old stock ledger shows that in 1940, Dark was responsible for three quarters of Brains production at nearly eight times the volume of the next most popular beer. It has won hundreds of awards through the years and remained Brains’ biggest-selling ale well into the 1980s. Some Brains pubs, like the Railway Inn in Ely, sold only Dark on draught until then and it is still a much-loved favourite with many Brains drinkers today.
By the late 1990’s, with the rapid development of Cardiff City Centre as well as growing beer volumes, it became clear that operating from The Old Brewery in St Mary Street was rapidly becoming unviable. An alternative location for the brewery and head office had to be sought, so when the Cardiff Brewery in Crawshay Street came up for sale, the difficult, but logical, decision was made to leave the Company’s historical and spiritual home.
So, in 1999, Brains moved to its new brewery and the letters B, R, A, I, N and S, were installed onto the famous chimney that forms the centrepiece of the site. The Cardiff Brewery significantly increased brewing capacity, enabling the Company to contract brew for other brand owners, as well as brew the full portfolio of Brains brands.
Another outcome of the move was the transformation of The Old Brewery in St Mary Street into the Brewery Quarter, which is now home to a dozen or so bars and restaurants, including Brains own Yard Bar & Kitchen.
In June 2018, Brains Head Office moved from the Cardiff Brewery in Crawshay Street to here at the Dragon Brewery. The Crawshay Street site is in the process of being transformed into a 2.5 million square feet mixed-use development, which will be one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects and known as Central Quay. Brains is partnering with another Cardiff-based family business, Rightacres Property, to jointly develop Central Quay.
It is planned that the iconic Brains chimney and brewhouse will remain as the centrepiece of the Central Quay development, which will include a Brains brewpub and visitor attraction.
In the second half of 2018, Brains will be installing its new, modern and efficient brewery into this site, with brewing expected to switch from the Cardiff Brewery to the Dragon Brewery early in 2019.
Pics
Building plans from the 1980s
A few others bits
Cheers
Most of good bits are all in the top 2 floors of the brewery building so well worth a look around, there is also an empty pub on site which warrants a return visit. The security guy is still on the ball with cameras dotted about and demo workers all over the site in the day.
History
Brains is not as Welsh as you think! Our founder Samuel Arthur Brain was born in 1850 and brought up in Bristol, before moving to Cardiff to train as a brewer. He proved to be a very talented brewer and he quickly rose to become Manager of the Phoenix Brewery in Working Street.
In 1872 he had fulfilled many a man’s dream by marrying a girl whose father owned a brewery! It was Thomas’s brewery in St Mary Street Cardiff and having learnt his trade down the road, he bought the brewery from his wife’s family with the help of his uncle, Joseph Benjamin Brain, who was Chairman of the West of England Bank. The year was 1882 and the first pint of Brains Beer was brewed at The Old Brewery.
Brains quickly made a name for itself across Cardiff and in 1887 Samuel Arthur and his uncle purchased land next to the brewery to expand The Old Brewery at a cost of £50,000 - that’s the equivalent of over £5 million today. It was a massive investment increasing capacity to 50,000 barrels and included a central cellar that could hold 5,000 casks of ale.
As well as taking on the competition, Brains also took on the law to help it grow. The powerful Welsh temperance movement had led to The Welsh Sunday Closing Act of 1871, which prevented beer sales on the sabbath. But Brains circumvented that by building links with private social and working men’s clubs, which did not come under the jurisdiction of the law, opening up an additional 52 days-a-year of trading!
The success of the brewery made Samuel Arthur a wealthy man and he set out to control the local liquor business from grain and grape to glass by becoming a founder of the Cardiff Maltings Company and Chairman of Stevens & Sons, the largest wine & spirits merchants in South Wales. At the same time, he was busy building up a tied estate of pubs in the Cardiff area.
But his influence stretched far beyond the bar. He was elected to Cardiff Council in 1885 and became Lord Mayor of Cardiff in 1899. He died just three years’ later at the age of 53, but he had established a name that lives to this day in Cardiff, throughout Wales and far beyond. And under the leadership of his uncle Joseph Benjamin and his sons Joseph Hugh and William Henry the business continued to thrive under family ownership.
Trade remained brisk, so Brains commissioned the build of the New Brewery in Roath to complement production at The Old Brewery. In 1914 the build was complete, but Europe descended into war and the Government urged restraint in beer consumption to help the war effort. Under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the Government slashed pub opening hours and increased beer duty, halving demand and rendering the New Brewery superfluous to requirements in the short term.
Brains was bold enough to speak out against those trying to ban alcohol in 1916: “They have the effrontery to suggest that all men and women must be compelled to drink water. This is an insult to a hard-working, law-abiding, sober country”. And the pressure told - the growing public unrest at the shortage of beer stopped the War Cabinet adopting prohibition.
However, it was a difficult five years for the Company with the constant threat to the business of prohibition and the loss of many employees in the war, including Samuel Arthur’s Grandson, William Sweet-Escott, who was killed in action in 1918.
Brains Red Dragon had become the drink of Cardiff and dominated production at The Old Brewery for many years. The popular dark brew was nicknamed ‘Dark’ by Cardiffians and caught on so much that the legendary brew was renamed in their honour. The Red Dragon was then adopted as the Company’s trade mark.
Unlike other dark milds, which are predominantly sweet, Brains Dark is distinctively bitter, with a roasted aroma, spicy flavour and a hint of coffee. An old stock ledger shows that in 1940, Dark was responsible for three quarters of Brains production at nearly eight times the volume of the next most popular beer. It has won hundreds of awards through the years and remained Brains’ biggest-selling ale well into the 1980s. Some Brains pubs, like the Railway Inn in Ely, sold only Dark on draught until then and it is still a much-loved favourite with many Brains drinkers today.
By the late 1990’s, with the rapid development of Cardiff City Centre as well as growing beer volumes, it became clear that operating from The Old Brewery in St Mary Street was rapidly becoming unviable. An alternative location for the brewery and head office had to be sought, so when the Cardiff Brewery in Crawshay Street came up for sale, the difficult, but logical, decision was made to leave the Company’s historical and spiritual home.
So, in 1999, Brains moved to its new brewery and the letters B, R, A, I, N and S, were installed onto the famous chimney that forms the centrepiece of the site. The Cardiff Brewery significantly increased brewing capacity, enabling the Company to contract brew for other brand owners, as well as brew the full portfolio of Brains brands.
Another outcome of the move was the transformation of The Old Brewery in St Mary Street into the Brewery Quarter, which is now home to a dozen or so bars and restaurants, including Brains own Yard Bar & Kitchen.
In June 2018, Brains Head Office moved from the Cardiff Brewery in Crawshay Street to here at the Dragon Brewery. The Crawshay Street site is in the process of being transformed into a 2.5 million square feet mixed-use development, which will be one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects and known as Central Quay. Brains is partnering with another Cardiff-based family business, Rightacres Property, to jointly develop Central Quay.
It is planned that the iconic Brains chimney and brewhouse will remain as the centrepiece of the Central Quay development, which will include a Brains brewpub and visitor attraction.
In the second half of 2018, Brains will be installing its new, modern and efficient brewery into this site, with brewing expected to switch from the Cardiff Brewery to the Dragon Brewery early in 2019.
Pics
Building plans from the 1980s
A few others bits
Cheers
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