Charrington, Nicholl & Co. Ltd
Charrington, Nicholl & Co. Ltd, East Hill Brewery, Colchester, Essex
Founded in 1830 as a porter brewery.
Registered in 1904.
Acquired by the Colchester Brewing Co. Ltd in 1920.
The brewery was demolished in 1971 but the offices survive.
From ESSEX BREWERS - The Malting and Hop Industries of the County by Ian P Peaty 1992 now out of print ISBN 978 1 873966 02 4
The firm of Kimber, Gross and Nicholl was founded in 1830 as a porter brewery situated behind the Greyhound public house in Botolph Street.
By 1851 Charrington Nicholl had moved to a former baymakers warehouse in East Hill. The brewery was rebuilt in 1871 and by 1882, Kelly's Directory lists Nicholl (Charington) and Company, East Hill Brewery, as maltsters also at Rivington Street, Shoreditch, London. The capacity of the brewery was 50 quarters and at this time was producing 40,000 barrels per annum. Up until 1904, the title was Charrington Nicholl and Company East Hill Brewery, when this name was registered. The Colchester Brewing Company Ltd. took over the concern in 1920, at which time there were 100 employees including the Eye and Halesworth, Suffolk breweries, which produced an additional barrelage of 50,000. The company also owned in 1884 timber saw mills in Culver Street, Colchester which employed another 40 workers. On 16th October, 1922, an agreement was signed with the Great Eastern Railway for a private railway siding situated nearby at the railway junction of the mineral branch line to the Hythe Quays on the River Colne.
The maltings in Priory Street ceased production in 1920. The large quadrangled brewery was situated partly behind the still existing Ind Coope pub, The Goat and Boot Inn. The classically simple Georgian style offices and covered cobbled archway are still extant. Opposite was the company's mineral water factory of 6300 square feet which was sold on 8th June, 1949. At the enlargement of the brewery in 1884 the capacity was 75 quarters producing 300 barrels daily. The artesian well was 300 feet deep. In 1863, prior to the 1884 enlargements, had two boiler houses, one of which had a 60 H.P. engine built by Williams of Ipswich, and adjoining this was the engine house and coal stack yard. On the first floor were the mash tubs of 50 quarters and a steel's Patent Mashing Machine Hopper. The second floor was the Tun room which had four tuns and a large refrigerator, with an adjacent tun room with four other tuns, one capable of holding 210 barrels. The hop chambers were each 120 ft in length and the six malt chambers of the same size.
There were several storage cellars with brick vaulted roofs, 150 feet long by 40 feet wide. In 1863, 41,064,830 bushels of malt were used and 168,852 hundredweight of hops, much of which was imported foreign hops and malt due to the reduction of duty. At this time Mr C. Nicholl also owned saw mills and timber yards next to the distillery in Culver Street, owned by Mr Arthur T. Cobbold, wine and spirit merchant. The last use of the premises was as a clothing factory, Crowther Brothers Ltd. On this firm ceasing operations on the former brewery site it lay vacant for several years before demolition in 1971.
In 1898 Nicholl and Company were timber and slate merchants with a depot and wharf on the Hythe Quay.
Views of the brewery:
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