Castle Eden Brewery (J Nimmo & Son Ltd) was a

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 ...

that operated in the village of Castle Eden in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. It was best known for ''Castle Eden Ale'', which continues to be produced at

Seaham Seaham ( ) is a seaside town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham, England, Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as ...

History

The business was established in 1826, when John Nimmo (c.1801 - 1867) began to brew at the Castle Eden Inn in Castle Eden, which had its own

brewhouse A brewhouse is a building made for brewing beer and ale. This could be a part of a specialized brewery operation, but historically a brewhouse is a private building only meant for domestic production. Larger households, such as noble estates, o ...

. After the death of John Nimmo, the brewery was managed by his son, William John Nimmo (1828 - 1901). Between 1871 and 1888, the value of the fixtures at the brewery rose from £138 to £1765. Nimmo was innovative, building the second pneumatic

maltings A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain foo ...

in England in 1878-9, and his was among the first breweries to adopt powered drays in 1892. In 1892, J. Nimmo & Son Ltd was registered as a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

with 41 public houses. William John Nimmo died in 1901, and he was succeeded by his son, also called William John Nimmo (1870 - 1951). Castle Eden Inn - geograph

Alterations completed in 1910 made Castle Eden one of the most up-to-date breweries in the country and output doubled between 1906 and 1914.The Northern Echo 25 April 2001 RAISE A GLASS TO AN OLD FRIEND BYLINE: Hayley Gyllenspetz In 1912 the company acquired the brewing business of Thomas Chilton in

, including 12 public houses. Between 1912 and 1920, production reached a record output of more than 42,000 barrels. Nearly a third of the output was in bottles by 1942, and an automatic bottling plant came into operation in 1950. William John Nimmo died in 1952 without any sons. His daughter, Eileen Denton Trechman (1905 - 2004), became chair of the company, and the only female to hold such a position in Britain. Nimmo's red star logo was first installed as a neon sign at one of their houses in 1951. The company went public in 1952. In 1957 the company claimed to have opened the most modern malting plant in the North of England."Big Brewery Deal." Times ondon, England19 September 1958: 18. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 4 December 2013. In 1958, the company expanded into Tyneside with the acquisition of Davison & Wood, including 20 public houses. The national brewer

Whitbread Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread in partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell, with premises in L ...

acquired J Nimmo & Son in September 1963, along with 125 public houses, for a cash and share exchange that valued the company at £2.25 million.£2.1 millions take-over bid by brewery The Guardian (1959-2003) ondon (UK)7 September 1963: 12. Nimmo had not had sufficient capitalisation to expand and modernise its tied estate as an independent concern. Whitbread announced that it would retain the Nimmo name and expand production. Whitbread rationalised the product portfolio in 1966, discontinuing all cask production in order to concentrate on keg beers such as ''Trophy Special''.The Guardian (London) 21 November 1998 Food&drink: The cream of Durham BYLINE: Roger Protz A £650,000 investment was announced in 1977, to enable all of the Whitbread group's beers to be racked and processed at the brewery. Durham Masonic Hall - geograph

Following the appointment of a new head brewer, Jim Kerr, cask beer production returned to the site from 1991. The brewery had an annual production capacity of 220,000 barrels by 1992.The Guardian (London) 21 November 1992 FOOD AND DRINK: JOYS FROM THE BLACK STUFF; Roger Protz savours the born-again porter that could carry an endangered old brewery into the 21st century BYLINE: ROGER PROTZ From 1992, Whitbread used the brewery to produce limited edition specialist ales. A "Draughtflow" version of Castle Eden Ale had been introduced in cans by 1993. The same year the brewery began to brew ''

Mackeson Stout Mackeson Stout is a milk stout first brewed in 1907. It contains lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Milk stout Milk stout (also called sweet stout, mellow stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Lacto ...

'', and ''Higsons Bitter'' and ''Mild'' following the closure of the Exchange Brewery in Sheffield. The brewery employed 150 people by 1995. Whitbread announced plans to close down the brewery in 1998, but it was saved by an estimated £4 million

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

by David Soley and David Beecroft. Production at the time was 60,000 barrels. Major negotiations took place over the ownership of the ''Trophy Special'' brand, which with production of 28,000 barrels, was essential if the new company was to survive on its own. Whitbread maintained ownership of the ''Castle Eden Ale'' and ''Best Scotch'' brands, which the new company could brew under licence for seven years. The brewery was closed in 2002 and production was moved to Cameron's Brewery. Castle Eden continued to be produced until 2009, when

InBev InBev () was a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...

, which had inherited the Whitbread brand portfolio, refused renewal of the licence. Camerons announced the return of Castle Eden Ale production in 2013. Since 2014 Castle Eden beers have been brewed by an independent

microbrewery 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, ne ...

. An April 2020 article indicates that the business was owned by Cliff Walker and David Travers who had arranged for a major increase in capacity.

References

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Sources

* ''The Brewer's Tale: Memoirs of a Master Brewer'', Frank Priestley (2010) * Nick Redman, The History of the Castle Eden Brewery, County Durham (Whitbread plc, London, 1993). Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Companies based in County Durham Food and drink companies established in 1826 Food and drink companies disestablished in 2002 1826 establishments in England 2002 disestablishments in England Whitbread former divisions and subsidiaries