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Mitchells & Butlers Brewery

Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed when Henry Mitchell's old Crown Brewery[1] (founded in Smethwick in 1866, and in partnership with Herbert Glendilling Bainbridge, former partner in Young's and Bainbridge from 1888[2]) merged with William Butler's Brewery (also founded in Smethwick in 1866) in 1898.[3]

Mitchells

Henry Mitchell had moved to the Cape Hill site in 1879[1] and this became the company's main brewing site. It had its own railway network,[4] connected to the national railway system from 1907 to 1962, via the Harborne line.[4] The brewery also funded a football team, Birmingham St George's F.C., which was a member of the Football Alliance and won the Staffordshire Senior Cup twice, before disbanding in 1892.[5]

Butlers

Another brewery, opened by a completely different William Butler, in 1874, at Springfield in Wolverhampton, also became part of M&B in 1960. Brewing at this site ceased in 1990 and the site closed in 1991. It was badly damaged by fire in 2004. The site is now occupied by a campus of the University of Wolverhampton, with some original buildings, including the ornate entrance arch, retained.[6]

Other acquisitions included Holder's Brewers, who owned Birmingham's Midland Brewery, in 1919,[7] and the Highgate & Walsall Brewery in 1939.[8]

Merger with Bass

The company merged with Bass in 1961.[3] With the brand under ownership of Coors Brewers, the Cape Hill brewery closed in 2002 with production switched to Burton upon Trent.[9] The brewery was demolished in 2005,[4] and the site is now a housing estate, although the Mitchell & Butler war memorial, built in 1920, has been retained and restored.[10]

Their most famous beer was Brew XI (using Roman numerals, and so pronounced Brew Eleven), advertised with the slogan "for the men of the Midlands".[11] It is now brewed under licence for Coors by Brains of Cardiff.[11]

A descendant company, which manages pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom, is still known as Mitchells & Butlers, and is based in Birmingham.[12]

See also

  • List of breweries in Birmingham

References

  1. Fifty Years of Brewing, 1879-1929 Mitchells & Butlers, 1929^
  2. https://www.blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB146_BS-MB^
  3. Our history Mitchells & Butlers, retrieved 2008-03-26^
  4. M&B Brewery, Cape Hill Rails Around Birmingham, retrieved 12 August 2012^
  5. Action against a "Wednesday" forward Sheffield Independent, 7 October 1892^
  6. Heritage of Springfield University of Wolverhampton^
  7. Lesley Richmond, Alison Turton. The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records Manchester University Press, 1990^
  8. Walsall_Brewery_Co._Ltd retrieved 2 July 2023^
  9. Brewery at Quaffle Directory of Real Ale Breweries, retrieved 2008-10-03^
  10. War Memorial at Mitchell & Butler Brewery^
  11. Brum's best beers Birmingham Mail, 24 October 2012, retrieved 29 September 2015^
  12. Press Association. Mitchells & Butlers calls time on chief executive Alistair Darby | Business The Guardian, 2015-09-22, retrieved 2015-09-29^