Crystal Palace (Derby)

Crystal Palace, 42 Rosehill Street, Derby, Derbyshire.

Frederick Shreeve, sold to Offiler's Brewery Ltd 1924 but still brewing under Charrington & Co. Ltd until September 1966.

John Arguile writes:

More than half the Derby home brew houses left in 1960, were owned by common brewers, mainly Offilers. They had a history of allowing home brewing to continue alongside their own products and were instrumental in actively supporting brewing operations. Their reason was twofold. One was that their own main beer, Offiler’s Nut Brown, was a cheap, light mild typical of most Derby brew pubs output and secondly that many had phenomenal sales records of their own brews.

The Crystal Palace, Rosehill Street was its most popular outlet. Pre-war this small, out of town, back street pub, according to the rating records, was selling a weekly average of 16 barrels (64 firkins) of beer, more than most other Derby pubs of the day (or even today). Even in the 1960s they brewed four hogsheads of beer seven times a month (21 firkins a week) - and it was all drunk on the premises. Amazing, considering that the pub was small, and tucked well away in the back streets far from the town centre. The pub’s brewhouse had to be outside and was butted up to the next house.

From 1949 the brewer/publican was Fred Shreeve, but in 1954, he passed on the brewing techniques to his successor Howard Cope and his son Terry, then just turned 18. That was how it once was; techniques were handed down. Home brewers helped each other out, so when the Old Eagle & Child (St Alkmunds Churchyard), another Offiler home brew house, needed a relief brewer, Terry was volunteered. It helped that the recipe for their beer was similar to that of the Palace.

But not all the home brews were the same. The Crystal Palace beer, just the one style, was a 1036 degrees OG mid-brown mild, using yeast and hops from Offilers and malt from Yeomans, Cherry and Curtis in Burton. Bad brews were unknown, except on the occasion when Terry, seduced by a particular batch of "lovely" hops, added another handful. The result was an empty pub and having to throw away 3½ hogsheads (21 firkins) of the beer!

Offilers did not interfere with brewing, but they did provide plant and Jim Maclennan, its head brewer, commissioned a Burton cooperage (Kottingham) to make new brewing vessels for the little brewery in 1954. At 5ft 9in diameter, it was considerably bigger than the largest casks made (hogsheads) and it proved to be a problem to accurately gauge the angle of the joints.