The story of Holt, Plant & Deakin

The story of Holt, Plant & Deakin

by Steve James

Although Dudley was once known as the home-brew capital of the West Midlands, by 1980 most of the pubs were controlled by the much larger breweries – Ansells Brewery Ltd, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Ltd Banks's Brewery (Wolverhampton) and Hansons Ltd). Indeed, in the 1980 CAMRA Black Country Good Beer Guide, almost 90% of the pubs listed were supplied by these breweries, leaving little more than a couple of handfuls for the smaller breweries such as Bathams, J. P. Simpkiss and Holden's Brewery Ltd. And only one home-brew pub survived, Doris Pardoe, Old Swan Brewery at Netherton.

But in 1984, something of a minor revolution occurred, when Allied Breweries set up Holt, Plant & Deakin as part of a marketing plan to enliven some ‘struggling’ former Ansell’s pubs in the Black Country.

They came up with the idea of forming a chain of branded pubs supplied by a new micro-brewery at Langley. The enterprise used the names of three former breweries in the Allied portfolio - Holt Brewery Co. Ltd (Birmingham which was acquired by Ansells Brewery Ltd in 1934 and closed in 1974), Thomas Plant & Co. Ltd’s Steam Brewery (Netherton taken over by Ansells Brewery Ltd in 1937 and closed ten years later) and James Deakin’s Manchester Brewery Co. Ltd. There was such a brewing firm but it was subsumed into Walker & Homfrays Ltd and on into Wilsons Brewery Ltd and Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd so it is unclear how Allied Breweries would be able to make use of the old brand; perhaps it results from the fertile mind of a marketing man! The brewery to a 15 brl Peter Austin Ringwood Brewery design cost £100,000 to establish and produced up to 5,000 gallons a week of their stronger Holt’s Entire beer.

Under the stewardship of general manager, Andrew Thompson, and company secretary, Andrew Holt, the selected pubs were refitted and given a ‘Victorian’ appearance, at a cost of over £350,000. They had carved wood, open fires in black fire grates and furnishings that made it look like you had stepped back in a time machine. Whilst some thought this was a questionable project, the beer was excellent, and Holt’s Entire became a favourite tipple for many cask beer fans. Indeed, the idea has been reflected more recently by Black Country Ales, with their own micro-brewery in Lower Gornal and a chain of pubs, refurbished in the ‘traditional’ style.

The brewery was located at the former New Inn at Langley, run by Dave Rawsthorne. He had 11 years brewing experience, with a MSc brewing degree from the Brewing School at Birmingham University. The brewery was launched in September 1984, with the New Inn reopened as the Brewery Tap. In this ‘spit-and-sawdust’ pub, you could look through a window to see the workings of the brewery. Although all the “Entire” was brewed at Langley, the regular mild and bitter came from Allied’s brewery at Warrington, to a recipe formulated to meet Black Country tastes. The Langley brewery not only brewed the stronger Entire ale (4.4%), but also Deakin’s Downfall (5.9%) and Plant’s Progress (5.9%), as well as an occasional Christmas ale.

After the Brewery Tap, the first pub to be opened as part of the Holt, Plant & Deakin chain was the Fountain Inn at Tipton. They initially supplied six tied houses, including the Crosswells in Langley (former taphouse of Showell's Brewery Co. Ltd), Crown & Cushion (Ocker Hill), Mount Pleasant (Sedgley), Dudley Port (Dudley Port) and Posada (Wolverhampton). Although many of the selected pubs were old Victorian locals, they were less successful in converting more modern pubs such as the Gladstone Arms at Wordsley. Later pubs included the Old Bull’s Head (Lower Gornal), formerly with Bradley’s Brewery at the back, which later became the brewery for Black Country Ales. At its height, Holt, Plant & Deakin had a tied estate of around 50 pubs, mainly in and around the Black Country.

To keep pace with demand, it opened a second micro-brewery in 1989 at the Ship & Rainbow (renamed the Holt’s Brewery Tap) in Wolverhampton, capable of producing 120 barrels of beer a week. But the beer did not always taste the same and this led to the brand losing its focus. After most of the brewing was switched to Wolverhampton, the project started to fail and was wound up in 1996. But most of the pubs survived and several still feature remnants of the old brand, including etched windows and signs, such as at the Plough & Harrow in Stourbridge. After the brewery closed, the pubs were sold to the Firkin group, who resumed brewing at Wolverhampton (renamed the Fermenter & Firkin at a cost of £330,000) for a short time to supply their local chain of tied houses. But brewing finally ceased in 1999 after the locals thought their beer was not as distinctive as the previous Entire.

Dave Rawsthorne, the man responsible for launching Holt’s Entire, then went to the Old Swan, Netherton, to recreate the ale under the Doris Pardoe, Old Swan Brewery name.

Later, he spent time at the Titanic Brewery in Stoke-on-Trent and Enville Ales in South Staffordshire, and also helped to create Beckbury Bitter for the Hop & Stagger Brewery in Shropshire, before retiring.

I can well remember sampling glasses of Holt’s Entire at several of their pubs and their doorstop butties were unbeatable. A sad loss, but at least Entire beer survives under the Old Swan name and Holt, Plant & Deakin’s brewery memorabilia is very collectable.

Steve James

With acknowledgement to Tony Hitchmough, Joseph McKenna, Brewery History Society and midlandspubs.com