Thwaites Brewery

Local brewer and pub retailer Daniel Thwaites has been based in Lancashire since 1807.

Born in 1777, Daniel Thwaites first began brewing in Blackburn in 1807 when he joined the 'Eanam Brewery' in partnership with local businessmen, Edward Duckworth and William Clayton. At the age of 31, Daniel married Edward's daughter Betty, who later inherited her father's share of the company following his death in 1822.

The Brewery became the sole property of 'Thwaites' in 1824, when William Clayton sold his remaining share of the company to Daniel.

Daniel and Betty Thwaites went on to have twelve children, four sons and eight daughters. Daniel Thwaites Jnr was born in 1817, the sixth of their twelve children. Daniel Thwaites Jnr and his brothers John and Thomas later inherited the brewery following the death of their father, Daniel Thwaites Snr, in 1843.

The decade of the 1850s was one of growth for the brewery and increasing prosperity for the Thwaites partners. Thomas left the partnership and in 1858, following the earlier death of his mother and the retirement of his other brother, John, Daniel Thwaites Jnr became the sole owner of the brewery. One year later, he married Eliza Amelia Gregory and they had a son, Edward, who died in infancy and daughter, Elma Amy Thwaites.

The Plough at Eaves, a Thwaites pub.

The official announcement of the dissolution of the partnership published in the London Gazette on 25 February 1859 stated that it was by mutual consent. Daniel, who ran the brewery with the help of manager Joseph Smith and property adviser Henry Gornall had now been a partner for fifteen years. During this period he expanded the firm and shown himself to be an astute, ambitious and experienced brewer.

Meanwhile, following the purchase of the Snig Brook Brewery in 1863, the brewery continued to prosper and develop in size. During this period, Eanam Brewery expanded production to provide 100,000 barrels a year by 1878. The business also had to adapt to various pieces of legislation, introduced by Gladstone's Liberal government. The 1869 Wine and Beer House Act gave licensing power back to the magistrates and was intended as a measure of control over the more unsavoury beer shops. It was followed by the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing Act of 1872, which introduced higher licence fees, licensing inspectors, reduced opening hours, restrictions on the sale of spirits to those 'apparently under the age of 16' and increased penalties for licensing offences.

The drink issue was of great importance to Daniel, not only as a brewer but also as a Conservative politician. He went on to become the MP for Blackburn from 1875 until 1880 and became well known nationally. Locally, he was described as a good landlord who owned some of the best public houses in Blackburn.

Having become a wealthy man, Daniel Thwaites Jnr died in 1888, leaving his only daughter Elma Thwaites and her husband Robert Yerburgh to inherit the brewery.

By 1897 Thwaites had grown enough to become a Limited company but the real expansion came after the First World War. In 1923, Thwaites bought the James Pickup Wines & Spirits Company and then Henry Shaw & Co, which owned the New Brewery in Salford. In 1925 Thwaites began bottling its beers and in 1927 they bought the Fountain Free Brewery.

In 1946 Elma Yerburgh died leaving trusted colleague Albert Whittle to look after the brewery whilst her grandson, John was away at war. In 1946 and 1956 respectively, the brewery purchased the Bury Brewing Company and the Preston Brewery Company and in 1966 the Eanam Brewery was extended and renamed Daniel Thwaites 'The Star Brewery'.

During the 1960s Thwaites public houses were in abundance across the town and Daniel Thwaites' ales had become popular throughout East Lancashire. 1966 saw the opening of the new £5.5m Brewery and brewhouse followed in 1972 by a new £3m bottling plant, considered to be 'the last word in bottling complexes.' Huge numbers of people and group tours came to see the brave new world of brewing at the new Star Brewery.

The '70s and '80s saw the purchase of Yates & Jackson of Lancaster and Thwaites winning the first of its two Champion Beer of Britain awards, bringing national recognition to the family brewer.

Throughout this time, John Yerburgh, Elma Yerburgh's grandson, was the Brewery's chairman and he saw his great great Grandfather's business grow and flourish to become a well-respected regional brewer.

In 2002, John's wife, Mrs Ann Yerburgh, became the Brewery chairman and her passion for brewing award-winning beers in Blackburn remains as strong as for the Thwaites forefathers back in 1807. John died in June 2014.[8]

In 2017, Thwaites was granted planning permission to build a new brewery, stables and head office in Mellor, around 5 miles from its current location in Blackburn.[9]

The sound that was continuously heard in Blackburn throughout the 19th century was the clattering of horses hooves along the cobbled streets. The majority of these were work horses. Stable lads would lead the Thwaites horses out of the stables in Syke Street, across the road (until the end of the 19th century when the stables moved to the brewery site) and into the brewery yard where they waited patiently for their carts and drays to be loaded with the day's deliveries. These 'gentle giants' were to become a familiar sight in Blackburn for many years. In the 1920s however, most breweries decided to put their shire horses 'out to grass' and switch to motor transport. In 1927, the last of the Thwaites shire horses were led out of the brewery for the last time.

By the 1950s the shire horse had practically ceased to exist. But in 1957 an enterprising young manager called David Kay of Thwaites' soft drinks department wanted to bring the Shire dray horses back. Two years later, in 1959, he got his wish and was allowed to introduce two dray horses to the brewery's local route. He was convinced that the dray horses would not only attract good publicity for Thwaites but would be financially advantageous against the backdrop of rising fuel costs. On May Day in 1960 the first two shire horses were led out of the smart new Thwaites stables. The return of horse transport was a great success and the people of Blackburn soon grew used to sharing the magnificent brewery horses with the rest of the country.

In 2016, Thwaites acquired a third horse that has been named Gunner to celebrate 13 Guns, a beer produced by the company.

2010 marked fifty years of the reintroduction of horse-drawn deliveries after they ended in the 1920s. Over the years, the fame of the Shires has spread throughout the country, embodying the traditional values integral to Daniel Thwaites' heritage. To celebrate the anniversary, a commemorative sculpture featuring three of the multi-award-winning Shire horses in a unicorn configuration was commissioned.

The Daniel Thwaites stables have enjoyed great success over the last 50 years. In a nine-year period, the Shires have won the world-renowned National Championship seven times, which is the ultimate achievement and recognition for a Shire horse and its team.

Further success has been enjoyed at the Royal Show which the Shires have won five times in the pairs. They won the pairs, singles and team events at the Great Yorkshire Show and have enjoyed further wins at every major county show throughout the UK. The stables team includes Head Horse Keeper, Charles Beardmore who has been in the position for an impressive 40 years. 2010 also marked the 25th Anniversary of the Shire Horses' return being honoured by the Mayor of Blackburn in 1985 for their commitment to the town of Blackburn as ambassadors. This was the first time ever that such an honour had been awarded to horses.

Picture of a present-day Thwaites pub, with the new Thwaites logo

Thwaites started with ten public houses in 1807. Based at the Star Brewery in Blackburn, Thwaites now owns an estate of around 270 pubs, a small but growing group of characterful coaching inns known as Thwaites Inns of Character and six four-star full service regional hotels and spas, which traded under the Shire Hotels banner until 2016 when they were brought under the Thwaites brand.[10]

In addition, Thwaites supplies a full range of drinks to many independently owned pubs, clubs and restaurants in the North of England and beyond and a wide range of bottled beers to most major supermarkets.

Having reached a historic milestone in 2007 - celebrating 200 years of brewing excellence, Thwaites announced that it continued to look forward to a future that will continue to build upon the ideals and beliefs born 200 years ago when Daniel Thwaites first began the northern brewery. However, there were many turbulent changes in following years (qv)

The family tradition continues to this present day. Ann Yerburgh is Chairman, son-in-law Richard Bailey is Chief Executive Officer and Arabella Yerburgh is a Non-Exec Director.

In 2011 Thwaites announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art brewery. The move, which is anticipated to take place in three to four years time will improve the brewers operational efficiency and signals Thwaites' continued commitment to brewing quality ales.

At the end of 2011, Thwaites installed a new 200k craft brewery within the Star Brewery in Blackburn named 'Crafty Dan'. Featuring three new fermenters, Crafty Dan enables Thwaites to create up to three new beers a week as well as one off brews to mark special events. In 2016, as part of a drive to bring all parts of the business under a single brand, it was renamed Thwaites brewery.

In January 2012, Thwaites agreed to purchase the free trade interests of Hydes Brewery.

In January 2014, the company made the wrong kind of national headlines. Thwaites' proposed closure of its Star Brewery and 60 brewing redundancies led to staff temporarily switching off the H, I and E in the company's brewery sign to spell "Twats".[11] Thwaites' inability to select an alternative site for its brewery and to conclude a deal to sell its site to Sainsbury's received criticism in many areas including the local press and brewing industry.[12] The Tandleman blog suggested that apart from the beers produced in the renowned Crafty Dan craft brewery, Thwaites would contract out production of its beers permanently to other breweries.[13]

This proved prescient; the core beers were contracted out to Marston's and the latter company bought the top two (Wainwright's and Lancaster Bomber) and the bulk of Thwaites' beer business in March 2015 for £25.1m. Marstons will continue to supply Thwaites pubs with beer under a long-term contract whilst Thwaites will continue to produce (much reduced) volumes for its own pubs by retaining its microbrewery facility.[14]

European Beer Star Award 2011

• Lancaster Bomber – gold medal in English style bitter category

• Wainwright bottled ale – silver medal in English style golden ale category

International Beer Challenge 2011

• Old Dan – bronze medal in design and packaging category

Design Effectiveness Awards 2012

• Signature Range

Great British Pub Awards 2011

• The Griffin Inn – Yorkshire and North East Newcomer for the Year award

• The Saddle Inn – North West Family Pub of the Year Award

Lancashire Telegraph Awards 2011

• Thwaites Area Business Managers – Team of the Year Award[15]

AA Hospitality Awards 2016–17

• Thwaites Hotels – Hotel Group of the Year[16]