Thomas Buck - A History
T P Buck & Sons, Leicestershire: A History
The first mention of the Buck family involvement with the beer trade may be in the 1860s when William Kelsey had an ale stores and butchers in Oxford Street. This was property owned by a Mrs Buck. He was the agent for the Burton Brewery Company.
From 1884 to 1892 Arthur Bannister (F3158) was brewing in the High Street. Originally from London, he had previously been working in Loughborough, but it is not known whether or not he had been at one of the breweries. Although known as Bannister's Brewery, it was also called the Steam Brewery, with the address shown as Beast Market. In 1887 Bannister was described as a steam brewer and wine merchant in Beast Market and wine and spirit, hop and ale and porter merchant in the High Street. In 1892-94, he was also shown as victualler and brewer at the Board. The Board may have been no more than a small lodging house and his own home was at The Elms. However, it was presumably not a very successful enterprise, since the previous year it had been offered to Leicester Brewing & Malting who declined to purchase it.
In 1895 the address was shown as Beast Market, but by 1900 it had been bought by Buck. He was then shown as brewing in George Street (F3159) from 1902 to 1926. He had moved from Walton, where he had been brewing at the Windmill; although the family seem to have been bakers in Lutterworth from the 1840s.
In 1906 he applied for a licence to sell in smaller quantities from the brewery. Previously, he had been limited to a minimum of 4½ gallons or two dozen quarts. In future, he would be allowed to deal in quantities of 2 gallons, one dozen pints or two dozen half pints. The family trade was very important to small scale brewers such as Buck. The brewery was behind Buck's off-licence (SP545845). In 1914 it was described as an half-tower brewery, with 4 tied houses:-
- Royal Oak, Bitteswell, later sold to Thornley of Leamington
- Cock Inn, Peatling Magna, later sold to Holes of Newark
- Shoulder of Mutton, later sold to M&B then de-licensed
- Windmill, Walton, at some point became a Banks's pub
He also had malt and hops at the lowest market prices. He may also have been supplying the Old Cock at Arnesby, which was sold to a Mr Adams for £700 in 1920. At some point he also owned the Barley Sheaf at Whetstone.
Mr Buck was still listed as brewing in 1922, but in February 1923, there was a sale at auction of the following properties:-
- Windmill, Walton: £1,000
- Shoulder of Mutton, Arnesby: £900
- Hat & Beaver, Atherstone: £750
- Off-licence, Portland Street, Cosby
The sale fell through and the prices are those quoted for the properties to Offiler's Brewery Ltd of Derby. The Cosby off-licence was on sale again in 1925 at £1,000.
In 1931, three of TP Buck & Sons' properties were mortgaged to [Elworthy & Co. Ltd]] of Kettering for £2,500 at 5%. Elworthy & Co were supplying some 970 barrels of beer to Bucks, who in turn bottled the equivalent of some 360 barrels, which were then re-sold back to them. Elworthy were also supplying some 122 gallons of wines and spirits and this with the beer would probably have been sufficient to supply the whole of Buck’s estate. Elworthy were also supplying a Mr Buck at the High Street in Husbands Bosworth. Although the purchase had fallen to 539 barrels the following year, this may have been caused by the closure of the Kettering brewery and its sale to Marstons, which operated a different year end for its accounting. Although Bucks were still listed as brewers in 1932, in 1936 and 1941 they were only shown as bottlers.
The firm continued as bottlers and brewers' agents. It seems that the pubs were finally sold in 1945-46. This was probably linked to when Robert Buck succeeded to the business in 1946 (Whats Brewing June 1985, p13). They continued to bottle Guinness for Marstons until about 1960. Although bottling ceased in the early 1970s, they continued as agents and operated a beer at home service. When Mr Buck retired in 1982, the business closed. In 1985 the buildings were demolished for a new Co-op store.