G Crake, Tamar Brewery

The brewery just after closure.

The brewery when owned by Simonds.

G Crake, Tamar Brewery, Devonport, Plymouth, Devon.

Founded by 1820. Acquired by Simonds Ltd in 1919 with about 28 tied houses.

Brewing ceased 1975 and some of the equipment was used by the Blackawton Brewery.

The Tamar Brewery at Devonport by Geoff Dye

The first reference to the Tamar brewery was in December 1801 when The Royal Navy’s agent victualler Thomas Miller obtained a warrant to search the Tamar Brewery for casks suspected as being stolen from the Naval Brewery at Southdown in Millbrook on the other side of the Tamar in Cornwall. Accompanying him was John White the Managing partner, they found many casks with lettering obliterated and several on which a broad arrow was still visible. The brewery must have been a reasonable size at the time as a clerk was employed, one James Crang.

At an auction held in February 1814 at The Goude’s Kings Arms Plymouth Dry Dock, the Tamar Brewery was offered for auction, described as “A large public brewhouse under the name of Tamar Brewery”. It was purchased by William and John Ellis. They were later, in 1827, described as “brewers and maltsters at The Tamar Brewery” in the Tourist Guide to Devonport of that year.

The area in Morice Town close to the Naval Dockyard had two other small breweries operating. The New Passage Brewery known as Smith & Co, owned by John Smith, John Spiller and William Pridham, (who were described as ‘brewers and wine and spirit merchants’) and Messrs Liscombe’s brewery. In 1830 Thomas Liscombe and Thomas Whiddon Liscombe were listed as brewers at 58 Aubyn Street, but by January 1837 Thomas Liscombe had died and his brother T.W. Liscombe was recorded as brewer of 12 Tamar Street until he died on the 5th March 1857. It is thought that the new address in Tamar Street was due to the two breweries merging, the smaller one closing and Tamar carrying on. The brewery then passed to his son Robert Lavers Liscombe.

The brewery was then purchased by George Crake, said to reside at the small village of Knockers Knoll near Crownhill just north of Plymouth,(born 1854 died 1st July 1922). Little is known of the Crake period but he no doubt sold the brewery when he retired as he would have been aged 65 years.

Elsewhere in Plymouth towards the end of the nineteenth century a group of seven breweries merged to form Plymouth Breweries and brewing concentrated rat the Regent Brewery in Stonehouse, this was Tamar’s main competitor.

On the 4th September 1919 the Tamar brewery was purchased by H.G.Simonds Ltd of Reading with 28 public houses from George Crake, with all Simonds Ltd houses in Devon and Cornwall transferring to the Tamar Brewery.

In 1931 Whiteways’ Cider Company sold their Devon pubs to Simonds Ltd in return for a trade agreement whereby only Whiteways cider could be sold in Simonds Ltd houses and in 1932 N.P.Hunt, Crabbs Park Winery in Paignton with 45 houses was purchased. Mr Hunt used the money to purchase Lakemans Brewery in Brixham. In 1935 he sold 40 public houses to Simonds Ltd. During this period the Tamar was well known for its Porter and Mild, the working man’s beer, and trade was roughly 50% Tied and 50% Free, with the Royal Navy being a large customer. Pubs owned now totalled some 130.

The Second World War saw the area around the brewery suffer from enemy action. The brewery escaped with only one incident of an incendiary bomb landing in the grist case putting it out of action for nine months. During and after the war a lady brewer was employed by the company, possibly a first as qualified brewers were then almost always men. Mrs Doris Penery retired one year early from her legal retirement rage after the last brew.

After the war, modernisation and extensions took place when Robert Morton carried works in the brewhouse installing two new coppers, a hop back and a 100 barrel wort receiver. Later two stainless steel Puma pumps were added for chilled liquor and the wort receiver. The old cask washing yard was roofed over and converted to storage for a further 400 casks and the old cask storage cellar converted into a cold store. These changes were possible through the acquisition of a plot of land on the other side of Tamar Street, an island site bounded by John Street and Tamar Wharf on the other sides. Here a new cask washing shed was erected and equipped with a new Hopkins hydraulic washer. The area was also big enough for a coopers shed, drying shed and engineers shop. The new cold store was equipped with ten, 70 barrel horizontal vessels and ten Redox tanks all individually brine jacketed. During the upgrade the two Davy Paxman Economic boilers were converted to oil burning and a 14,000 gallon fuel tank erected outside the boiler house.

In 1951 some 30 houses belonging to Prowses South Devon Brewery Ltd at Kingsbridge, brewers of the famous “White Ale”, together with the business of C.W. Blundell & Co of Plymouth was acquired and in 1953 Mrs Kathleen Poole sold her late husband’s brewery at Penzance and 30 houses to Simonds Ltd, the brewery closed and a new depot was built nearby. Simonds Ltd purchased another of the town’s breweries, the Octagon Brewery Ltd in 1954. On Martin Street in Plymouth it was founded in 1861 by Joseph Godfrey and registered in 1899. They had 48 houses mostly within the City boundary. Brewing ceased and was transferred to the Tamar, the old brewery was then used for offices, spirit bottling stores, cask store and garage repair.

In 1957 the Brewery was awarded Bronze second prize in the Stout, OG 1046 degrees, competition for Simonds Ltd Velvet Stout at The International Brewing Awards

In 1960 H.G.Simonds Ltd merged with Courage & Barclay Ltd and the brewery became part of Courage Western with other breweries in Bristol and Newport in South Wales. This was a time when bottled beer sales were increasing so it was decided to modernise the bottling facilities at Tamar as one of the eight current breweries in the Courage group.

The new bottling store opened early in 1962 and was on part of the site of the original three breweries and their stables. The new bottling store fronted onto Tamar Wharf on the South and Moon Cove on the north. The 14 loading bays were at lorry level and 25 feet deep with a loading area behind. Due to the nature of the site concrete piles were sunk up to 20 feet deep. The total area covered was 35,000 sq feet with 180 foot frontage onto Tamar Wharf. 26 vehicles operated from the brewery to the trade and depots at Penzance, Torquay and Exeter. The two bottling lines used Worssam Super Forty fillers; one on pints did 600 dozen per hour and the other on halves was rated at 750 dozen per hour. Both lines had APV flash pasteurisers.

In 1968 the company was awarded First prize in the 1036 - 1041 degrees category for its ‘Heavy’ Mild. The mild was brewed using roasted malt to achieve a nutty dry flavour unlike cheaper mild brews that used caramel to darken and sweeten.

1970 was the 350th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower and was marked with the launch of Mayflower Ale. It was brewed at the Regent Brewery and bottled at Tamar. In April the deputy Mayor Alderman Graham Jinks started the bottling line at Tamar and attended the newly completed Tamar Brewery Training and Reception room where a function was held with both head brewers, Rex Cobb (Tamar) and Frank Clayton (P.B). The beer was sold to all houses in Plymouth in half pints from the 20th April 1970 at 2/6 a bottle.

In 1971 it was announced that Plymouth Breweries had been purchased by the Courage group. With three Courage premises in Plymouth savings were made and The Octagon Brewery Ltd closed immediately. Further savings were made with production being run down at Tamar. Brewing ceased in October 1975 and transferred to The Regent Brewery. Some of the equipment went to Blackawton Brewery Devon and the brewery was demolished and sold to the MOD to be incorporated into the dockyard. The brewing of Courage Best Bitter and Heavy were transferred to Regent, bottled Light ale and Brown being produced at Avonmouth but brewed elsewhere. By 1979 when Heavy received an award at CAMRA’s Beer Festival in London, production had been reduced to about 40-50 barrels per week and was finally axed in 1984 when the Regent brewery closed.

Tamar will always be remembered for the dockside location and the ‘Heavy’ Mild Ale it produced and of course for Mrs Penery, a lady brewer before her time.

Sources

• Unpublished history of Courage Western by CyrilHolman, Director September 1970.

• Brewers Guardian February 1962.

• Records at South West Devon Archives.

• Brian Glover’s book ‘Lost Beers of Britain’