Samuel Smith Old Brewery, commonly known as Samuel Smith's or Sam Smith's, is an independent brewery and pub operator based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, established in 1758. It claims to be Yorkshire's oldest brewery.[1]
It is known for being traditionally run with conservative values, still using dray horses for some beer deliveries, and banning music, television and mobile devices in its bars.[2]
History
Tadcaster had been a centre for brewing since the 14th century because of its gypsum rich wells.[1] The Old Brewery was established as the Backhouse & Hartley Brewery in 1758.[3][1]
In 1847, John Smith, supported by his father,[4] a butcher and cattle dealer from Meanwood, purchased it and built his new John Smith's Brewery close by. John Smith's brother William, who ran the business after John's death in 1879, left the Old Brewery to his nephew Samuel in 1886. However, Samuel inherited an empty building and well, with all equipment having been moved next door. Nevertheless, he refitted and opened his brewery.[3][5]
Since 2000, the "publicity-shy" company has dropped the Samuel Smith name across their pubs, with staff also told not to wear Samuel Smith branded t-shirts behind the bar.[7]
The Old Brewery
Stables for the dray horses at the Old Brewery
The Old Brewery is the smallest of three current Tadcaster breweries and one of the few remaining British breweries to employ a traditional, 19th century, Yorkshire Square fermentation system constructed of Welsh slate.[1]
Brewing water for ales and stouts is drawn from the original 85ft (26m) well, sunk when the site was established in 1758,[2] and the fermentation yeast has been used continuously since approximately 1900, making it one of the oldest unchanged strains in the country.[citation needed]
The brewery's team of dapple-grey shire horses are among the last working dray horses in the world and deliver beer around Tadcaster.[8]
Beers
Assorted keg beer taps (Dark Mild, Taddy Lager, Pure Brew Organic Lager)Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Bitter pumpsA bottle of Imperial Stout, a vegan beer
Since discontinuing Museum Ale in the early 1990s, Samuel Smith's has brewed only one cask beer, Old Brewery Bitter (OBB). This is unusual in the British brewing industry, as most brewers will either produce a range of real ales or none at all.[citation needed]
The brewery produces a range of conditioned beers. All, with the exception of Old Brewery Bitter and Yorkshire Stingo, are vegan.[9]
In the United States, Samuel Smith's bottled beers are imported by Merchant du Vin.[citation needed] In Norway, by Strag AS.[10]
Samuel Smith's Organic Cider is available in bottles, while Cider Reserve is sold on draught in the UK. The brewery offers two draught milds, Dark Mild and Light Mild. The brewery used to produce a super strength Barley Wine called Strong Golden at 10.2%. A range of bottled fruit beers are available, flavoured with cherry, apricot or raspberry.[citation needed]
Best Bitter and Sovereign are the brewery's keg bitters. It introduced Double Four in late 2013, a 4% standard strength lager between Alpine (2.8%) and Taddy Lager (4.5%). A wheat beer has been added to the draught product range, although few pubs stock it.[citation needed]
Until 2006, Samuel Smith's used the brand name Ayingerbräu for its lagers and wheat beers, from the Ayinger Brewery. The pump for Ayingerbräu Lager featured a model of a Bavarian "man in a box".[2]
Pubs
Samuel Smith's operates over 200 pubs, including 20 in central London, which are maintained traditionally. Most have multiple bar rooms, often with a spartan public bar and plusher lounge.[2] Many have frosted windows and stained glass decorations. The interiors often have either brown or beige painted walls, or elaborate wall paper. Some have notable interiors such as the Crown Inn in Wetherby which has furniture by Robert Thompson or the Princess Louise in High Holborn with booths around the bar.[11][12] Many of the pubs owned by the company, including many that it has acquired since the 1970s, are empty.[13]
The brewery still delivers multiple-trip, reusable bottles in beer crates.[citation needed]
The pubs only sell the brewery's own branded products.[14]
In 2004,[failed verification] the brewery banned music and televisions in its pubs, to avoid paying PRS fees.[15]
The brewery has a "zero-tolerance" policy to profanity, requiring its employees not to serve customers who use offensive language. It was reported that this was part of a policy to present a traditional, "uncompromisingly Victorian" aesthetic in the brewery's pubs.[16] The pubs also ban the use of mobile phones, tablets, e-books and laptops within indoor areas, with the stated aim of encouraging conversation.[17]
In July 2017, the brewery banned motorcyclists from one of its pubs, claiming it would keep "undesirables" out. While discrimination against people on many grounds is illegal, bikers are not a "protected group" under the Equality Act.[18][19]
Dismissal of staff
Most UK pubs owned by breweries in the UK are "tied"; publicans sell only the owner's beer, but are independent tenants free to make their own decisions. In September 1984 Samuel Smith made its pub managers salaried employees, without their former freedoms. The National Union of Licensed Victuallers, representing pub landlords, objected that its members had to choose between leaving their homes and jobs, or taking direct orders from the company, but the change was implemented.[13] One reason given for the many pubs owned by Samuel Smith remaining closed is the difficulty of finding managers willing to accept the arbitrary rules of Humphrey Smith.[13]
The GMB trade union has long criticised the brewery for its dismissal of pub managers.[14]
The Junction Inn, Royton
On New Year's Eve 2011, the brewery closed the Junction Inn in Royton after claiming staff were dispensing too much beer in the glasses, and subsequently issued a retrospective surcharge for lost stock over a 12-year period.[20][21]
In August 2020, after the Cow and Calf pub in Sheffield were unable to serve him his favourite dessert Humphrey Smith dismissed the managers and closed it, although the managers said that it was because they had not been provided with a freezer.[22]
Some dismissed managers have made claims of unfair dismissal with employment tribunals, but most represent themselves due to the cost of employing a lawyer; and under UK law employees have no recourse for unfair dismissal unless they have been employed for two years. The brewery employs lawyers, and wins about two-thirds of the cases.[13]
Controversies
The brewery is a major landowner in Tadcaster and concerns were expressed in a 2009 edition of BBC Inside Out about its long-term empty properties, and excessive influence in the town.[23] In January 2016, the brewery opposed construction, on its land in Tadcaster, of a temporary bridge over the River Wharfe, which would have allowed residents to cross, following collapse of the 300-year-old bridge. The brewery claimed the £300,000 cost was a waste of public money. Local councillors urged the brewery to reconsider.[24]
In 2010, the brewery took legal action against Cropton Brewery over the latter's use of the Yorkshire white rose design[25] for its Yorkshire Warrior beer.[26]Mr Justice Arnold ordered Cropton to remove the emblem but criticised both breweries for not settling the matter sooner.[27]
The "kiss-in" protest event at the John Snow pub
In April 2011, a gay couple were ejected from the brewery's John Snow pub in Soho for kissing, with the landlady calling the couple "obscene".[28] Two other people were also ordered to leave after defending the couple.[29] After learning about a planned "kiss-in" by protestors, the pub closed hours before it took place.[30]
The brewery and owner Humphrey Smith were prosecuted and fined £30,000 after pleading guilty for failing to provide information regarding staff pension funds.[31][32] The judge ruled Smith had been "deliberately inflammatory" in his response to a request in 2015 from The Pensions Regulator, calling their request for evidence of the brewery's fiscal responsibility to its staff pension fund "tiresome".[33]
In 2021, residents and their representatives in Darley Abbey petitioned the brewery to protect its 15th century, Grade II listed Abbey pub, that was falling into disrepair. It had been left empty for over two years.[36][37][38]
In 2022, the ex-managers of a Samuel Smith pub in Nunthorpe won a constructive dismissal case against the brewery after they had been charged thousands of pounds for alleged stock shortages, with the judge ruling the company culture is "not one that encourage[s] managers to raise objections even if they thought they were being unfairly treated" and ordering it pay £20,000 damages to the ex-managers.[39]
Newcastle Brown Ale is a brown ale, originally brewed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was launched in 1927 by Colonel Jim Porter after three years of development. The 1960 merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer national distribution, and UK sales peaked in the early 1970s. The beer underwent a resurgence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with student unions selling it. Brewing moved in 2005 from Newcastle to Dunston, Tyne and Wear, and in 2010 to Tadcaster. In 2017, the Heineken Brewery in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands, also began production. Since 2019, it has also been brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California, and Chicago, Illinois, for the American market.
John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s.
The Boston Beer Company is an American brewery founded in 1984 by James "Jim" Koch and Rhonda Kallman. Boston Beer Company's first brand of beer was named Samuel Adams after Founding Father Samuel Adams, an American revolutionary patriot. Since its founding, Boston Beer has started several other brands, and in 2019 completed a merger with Dogfish Head Brewery.
Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.
Brains is a regional brewery based in Cardiff, Wales. It was founded in 1882 by Samuel Arthur Brain. At its peak, the company controlled more than 250 pubs in South Wales, Mid Wales and the West Country but the brewer sold most of its pub estate in 2022. The company took over Crown Buckley Brewery in Llanelli in 1997 and Hancock's Brewery in 1999. In 2000, Brains moved to the former Hancock's Brewery just south of Cardiff Central railway station. The Old Brewery, in Cardiff city centre, has been developed into a modern bar and restaurant complex.
Altbier is a style of beer brewed in the Rhineland, especially around the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. It is a copper coloured beer whose name comes from it being top-fermented, an older method than the bottom fermentation of lagers. Altbier is a type of ale.
Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, west London, England, is the former brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC. It was a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019, when it was sold to the Japanese international beverage giant Asahi.
Webster's Brewery was a brewery founded in 1838 by Samuel Webster which operated at the Fountain Head Brewery in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Webster's Green Label, a light mild, and Yorkshire Bitter gained national distribution after the company was taken over by Watney Mann in 1972. Throughout the 1970s it was known for the advertising slogan: "Drives out the northern thirst".
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Brewing in Ireland has a long history. Production currently stands at over 8 million hectolitres, and approximately half the alcohol consumed is beer.
Wrexham Lager is a lager brewed in Wrexham, north-east Wales, tracing its heritage to 1881. After the original brewery's closure in 2000, the brand was revived by the Roberts family in 2011 using an older recipe.
Stones Bitter is a beer manufactured and distributed in the United Kingdom by the North American brewer Molson Coors. It is a bitter with a straw-golden hue. Stones Bitter was first brewed in 1948 by William Stones Ltd at the Cannon Brewery in Sheffield. It was designed for the local steelworkers and became successful in its local area, becoming one of Sheffield's best known products.
John Smith was an English brewer. He is best known for operating the John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, which continues to operate.
The Great Yorkshire Brewery is situated in the village of Cropton in North Yorkshire, England. Located within the North York Moors National Park, it is 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Pickering.
Stones Brewery was a brewery founded in 1868 by William Stones in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, and purchased by Bass Brewery in 1968. After its closure in 1999, Stones Bitter has continued to be produced by Molson Coors.
Tetley's Brewery(Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the Leeds Tetley Brewery to avoid confusion with a microbrewery of the same name.
Camerons Brewery is an English brewery established by John William Cameron in Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres and a tied estate of 75 houses. It is one of the oldest industrial concerns in Hartlepool, and has historically been one of the largest employers.
Humphrey Richard Woollcombe Smith is a British businessman and brewer, best known as the owner and chairman of Samuel Smith Old Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. The brewery, established in 1758, claims to be Yorkshire's oldest brewery and operates over 200 pubs across the United Kingdom. His wealth has been estimated to range from £750 million to several billion pounds, though exact figures are difficult to determine due to the private nature of the business.
The Angel and White Horse is a pub in the town centre of Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire, in England.
↑ "VEGAN BEER & CIDER". Lists of certified vegan beers including Imperial Stout: Samuel Smith Brewery. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013. Samuel Smith's was the first brewery to register with The Vegan Society—we did so in January 1998.
↑ "Strag AS". Strag.no. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
