Wombat
Registered
The Watney's Red & Party 7 thread got me thinking
When most Roofers were just young lads, Watney's was a power-house in UK beer, now (just like British Leyland), a brand resigned to the history books (for good reason)
Watney's Red was the #1 brand based on volumes drunk, back in the md-70's, but it was pretty horrible beer, compared to the flavourful craft-ales & European lagers we enjoy today..... but hat's all we had available......a few mass produced ales, stouts and milds, available in room-temperature casks /(draught), bottles and cans.
Lagers came later as British holiday-makers travelled to Spain and enjoyed the cold, crisp lagers essential in a hot climate, and demand for these refreshing lager-beers in CO2 dispensed kegs, came to the domestic beer scene.
Watney's in Norwich was one of my customers in the 1970's..... the side street that ran next to the brewery was part of Norwich's 'red light district', so if you were working night shift, you could wolf-whistle at the girls out of the Bottling Hall windows and have some banter and some of the workers would even negotiate best price for a quick 'knee trembler' on their break, only a Fiver........ so I heard
One of the biggest UK breweries was Watney's Mortlake, which Dagenham Fox and Soho may know. Right next to the Thames, as they used to transport barrels of beer by barge, 150 years ago, and the Bat Race used to pass feet away from this historic old brewery.
Went back a few years ago and it's now a Budweiser plant, with only about a quarter of the old brewery work-force, due to automation.
Old pubs down the side streets near the Mortlake brewery that we used to go for lunch in, circa 1980 (eg. The Ship), will be long-gone now, I'm sure.
The oldest brewery in that central / west London area was Guiness, which was like a scene from a Charles Dickens book.... all damp & dripping brick lined cellars, and mountains of kegs waiting to be washed, as back then they shipped them back from places like Africa, to their spiritual homes in Dublin & London
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Biggest brewery was Watney's Mortlake, which Dagenham Fox and Soho may know. Right next to the Thames, as they used to transport barrels of beer by barge, 150 years ago, and the Bat Race used to pass feet away from this historic old brewery.
Went back a few years ago and it's now a Budweiser plant, with only about a quarter of the old brewery work-force, due to automation.
Old pubs down the side streets near the Mortlake brewery that we used to go for lunch in, circa 1980 (eg. The Ship), will be long-gone now, I'm sure.
The oldest brewery in that central / west London area was Guiness, which was like a scene from a Charles Dickens book.... all damp & dripping brick lined cellars, and mountains of kegs waiting to be washed, as back then they shipped them back from places like Africa, to their spiritual homes in Dublin & London
When most Roofers were just young lads, Watney's was a power-house in UK beer, now (just like British Leyland), a brand resigned to the history books (for good reason)
Watney's Red was the #1 brand based on volumes drunk, back in the md-70's, but it was pretty horrible beer, compared to the flavourful craft-ales & European lagers we enjoy today..... but hat's all we had available......a few mass produced ales, stouts and milds, available in room-temperature casks /(draught), bottles and cans.
Lagers came later as British holiday-makers travelled to Spain and enjoyed the cold, crisp lagers essential in a hot climate, and demand for these refreshing lager-beers in CO2 dispensed kegs, came to the domestic beer scene.
Watney's in Norwich was one of my customers in the 1970's..... the side street that ran next to the brewery was part of Norwich's 'red light district', so if you were working night shift, you could wolf-whistle at the girls out of the Bottling Hall windows and have some banter and some of the workers would even negotiate best price for a quick 'knee trembler' on their break, only a Fiver........ so I heard
One of the biggest UK breweries was Watney's Mortlake, which Dagenham Fox and Soho may know. Right next to the Thames, as they used to transport barrels of beer by barge, 150 years ago, and the Bat Race used to pass feet away from this historic old brewery.
Went back a few years ago and it's now a Budweiser plant, with only about a quarter of the old brewery work-force, due to automation.
Old pubs down the side streets near the Mortlake brewery that we used to go for lunch in, circa 1980 (eg. The Ship), will be long-gone now, I'm sure.
The oldest brewery in that central / west London area was Guiness, which was like a scene from a Charles Dickens book.... all damp & dripping brick lined cellars, and mountains of kegs waiting to be washed, as back then they shipped them back from places like Africa, to their spiritual homes in Dublin & London
).Biggest brewery was Watney's Mortlake, which Dagenham Fox and Soho may know. Right next to the Thames, as they used to transport barrels of beer by barge, 150 years ago, and the Bat Race used to pass feet away from this historic old brewery.
Went back a few years ago and it's now a Budweiser plant, with only about a quarter of the old brewery work-force, due to automation.
Old pubs down the side streets near the Mortlake brewery that we used to go for lunch in, circa 1980 (eg. The Ship), will be long-gone now, I'm sure.
The oldest brewery in that central / west London area was Guiness, which was like a scene from a Charles Dickens book.... all damp & dripping brick lined cellars, and mountains of kegs waiting to be washed, as back then they shipped them back from places like Africa, to their spiritual homes in Dublin & London
