Aston Manor Limited, trading as Aston Manor Cider, is a former

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

and current

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

maker and bottling company in

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. Having started out as a

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

brewery, the company now produces exclusively cider and

perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

. In 2008 it was the third largest cider company in the UK by

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

, and the fourth largest in the world. In August 2018 Aston Manor cider was acquired by French co-operative Agrial.

Management

It was managed by Peter Ellis, son of Doug Ellis, until 2013, when Gordon Johncox took over as managing director. Peter Ellis remained as executive chairman until his death in December 2017. Peter's son, James Ellis, is financial director. Cider production director is Rod Clifford.

Products

Its products include the Frosty Jack's brand of white cider,

Kingstone Press Cider Kingstone Press Cider is an English cider made from apples from an orchard in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern in Worcestershire. Kingstone Press is Aston Manor Brewery, Aston Manor's main cider blend. There are three different flavours; Kingstone ...

, Friels First Press Vintage and Hop Infused Cider Knights Malvern Gold, Crumpton Oaks and 3 Hammers. In 2017, the business won 29 awards for its products and manufacturing.

History

The company was formed in 1981 by four former employees of Ansells, after Ansells closed its Aston Cross brewery. A new brewery was opened in nearby Thimble Mill Lane. In 1984,

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

hop farmer Michael Hancocks, one of the company's suppliers, bought into the business. By 1998, Aston Manor was reporting profits of over £1million, with 70% of its sales being cider. Because of a slump in the market and strong competition, by 2001 profits had fallen to £740,500, but by 2009 had risen to over £3 million, due to a large rise in demand in the UK. In 2009 the company took over the Devon Cider Company, based in

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-for ...

and has expanded the manufacturing facilities on that site. In spring 2013 the company planted of 1,000 acres of new orchards, using 350,000 trees, on sites in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and Herefordshire. In the autumn of 2013, a new fruit processing and pressing facility was added in

Stourport-on-Severn Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, 4 miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Be ...

in Worcestershire. In July 2014 the company moved to a new head office and logistics facility adjacent to the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

at Witton in Birmingham. In August 2018 Aston Manor cider was acquired by French co-operative Agrial.

Industrial sabotage plot

In 2001, Michael Hancocks, then managing director and a major shareholder with 12% of the shares, and whose family owned 44% of Aston Manor, organized a conspiracy to contaminate the cider products of the company's rival, H. P. Bulmer. He recruited a former Aston Manor employee, chemist Richard Gay, to produce a yeast that he planned to introduce into Bulmer's production line, recruited his daughter's partner, Paul Harris, to transport the contaminant, and paid a Bulmer's employee, Russell Jordan, £16,000 to introduce the contaminant. Jordan did not introduce the contaminant, but reported the plot to Bulmers and to the police, and the plot was foiled. If the plot had succeeded, anyone drinking the contaminated cider would have suffered diarrhoea and nausea. Following his conviction for conspiracy to defraud, Hancocks was jailed for 18 months and dismissed from the board of Aston Manor.

References

External links