F. W. Soames & Co. Ltd: Difference between revisions

From Brewery History Society Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(5 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Soames Ad 2.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:Soames Ad 1.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:WrexhamSoamesBry_TB_Jun12.jpg|thumb]]
[[Image:WrexhamNagsHead55a_SP_Aug17.jpg|thumb]]
[[Image:WrexhamNagsHead55a_SP_Aug17.jpg|thumb]]
<big>'''F W Soames & Co Ltd''', ''Nag's Head Brewery, Mount Street, Wrexham, Clwyd.''</big>
<big>'''F W Soames & Co Ltd''', ''Nag's Head Brewery, Mount Street, Wrexham, Clwyd.''</big>


Line 9: Line 11:
The brewery chimney (dated 1894) survives with a large "S" logo; and the Nags Head pub is still trading as a Marston's house.
The brewery chimney (dated 1894) survives with a large "S" logo; and the Nags Head pub is still trading as a Marston's house.


'''[[List of F. W. Soames & Co Ltd pubs]]'''


'''(The following information is from Wrexham Museums:)'''
'''(The following information is from Wrexham Museums:)'''
Line 21: Line 24:


''Frederick's death and the depression led to hard times for the brewery. In 1931 the company merged with Island Green of Wrexham and Dorsett Owen of Oswestry to form [[Border Brewery Ltd]].''
''Frederick's death and the depression led to hard times for the brewery. In 1931 the company merged with Island Green of Wrexham and Dorsett Owen of Oswestry to form [[Border Brewery Ltd]].''
'''The brewery features in The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland by Alfred Barnard published 1890.'''
<gallery>
File:Soames Wrexham 1.jpg
File:Soames Wrexham 3.jpg
File:Soames Wrexhamv 2.jpg
File:Soames Wrexhamv 4.jpg
File:Soames Wrexhamv 5.jpg
File:Soames Wrexhamv 6.jpg
File:Soames Wrexhamv 7.jpg
</gallery>




Line 36: Line 51:


{{Trade Mark |regno = 26,653|desc=Facsimile signature|date=24/8/1881|seventy=NO}}
{{Trade Mark |regno = 26,653|desc=Facsimile signature|date=24/8/1881|seventy=NO}}
[[category:Wales]]

Latest revision as of 16:57, 7 September 2022

Soames Ad 2.jpg
Soames Ad 1.jpg
WrexhamSoamesBry TB Jun12.jpg
WrexhamNagsHead55a SP Aug17.jpg

F W Soames & Co Ltd, Nag's Head Brewery, Mount Street, Wrexham, Clwyd.

The Nags Head Brewery was founded in about 1750 and was acquired by F W Soames in 1879.

Registered April 1931. It became part of Border Brewery Ltd in 1931.

The brewery chimney (dated 1894) survives with a large "S" logo; and the Nags Head pub is still trading as a Marston's house.

List of F. W. Soames & Co Ltd pubs

(The following information is from Wrexham Museums:)

The brewery straddles both sides of Tuttle street. The brewery building being on the west and the old Nag's Head on the east, next to which were more brewery buildings now demolished. The brewery had an excellent reputation. A 19th Century guide to the breweries of Britain commented:

"A visitor who had passed through Wrexham without sampling the home brewed of the Nag's Head would have been regarded as having failed in his principle and most obvious duty, and as a very eccentric person indeed."

The brewery was run by a successful father and son combination, William & Thomas Rowlands, between 1834-74. The ambitious Henry Aspinall then bought the brewery which he renamed The Wrexham Brewery Co. He bought land by the church to expand his brewery and got into a big dispute with the town as the locals thought this land off Tuttle Street was a public park. He came down to earth with a bump when declared bankrupt in 1879. The new buyer was Arthur Soames and he put his 21 year old son, Frederick, in charge as manager. In ten years Frederick had transformed the business, built a 50 quarter brewhouse and the bridled horse logo was getting known well beyond Wrexham. Barnard in his great 1892 tour of British breweries waxes so lyrically about Soames' brewery, you have to think that he might have written about his time in Wrexham after a liquid lunch at his hosts' expense.

In the First World War, the company had a lucky break when one of their requisitioned motorised drays was hit by a shell while on duty on the Western Front. The firm managed to get hold of a picture and it made great patriotic advertising for the rest of the war. Frederick Soames even had a new five-storey brewhouse built in 1920.

Frederick's death and the depression led to hard times for the brewery. In 1931 the company merged with Island Green of Wrexham and Dorsett Owen of Oswestry to form Border Brewery Ltd.


The brewery features in The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland by Alfred Barnard published 1890.


The Nags Head and brewery chimney in 2017:


Entry in the Trade Mark Registry

Registration No  : 26,653
Description  : Facsimile signature
Date of Application  : 24/8/1881
Used Prior to 1875?  : NO