The Horse Shoe Brewery was an English

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 ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

that was established in 1764 and became a major producer of

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

, from 1809 as Henry Meux & Co. It was the site of the

London Beer Flood The London Beer Flood was an accident at Meux & Co's Horse Shoe Brewery, London, on 17 October 1814. It took place when one of the wooden vats of fermenting porter burst. The escaping liquid dislodged the valve of another vessel and destroyed ...

in 1814, which killed eight people after a porter vat burst. The brewery was closed in 1921.

History

Early history

The

brewery tap A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, the Horseshoe, was established in 1623, and was named after the shape of its first dining room.So what REALLY happened on October 17 1814? , Zythophile
/ref> The brewery was named after the tavern. The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 on the junction of

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...

and

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

. By at least 1785 it was owned by Thomas Fassett. By 1786–87, it had the 11th largest output of porter of any London brewery, producing 40,279 barrels a year. By 1792 the brewery was owned by John Stephenson the younger, son of John Stephenson the elder. In 1794, after Stephenson's early death, the brewery ownership passed to Edward Biley. He ran the brewery until January 1809 when he was joined in partnership by John Blackburn and Edward Gale Bolero. Towards the end of 1809 the brewery was acquired by Henry Meux, who had been a partner in one of the largest of London's porter brewers, Meux Reid of the Griffin Brewery in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

. The company traded under the name Henry Meux & Co. The

horseshoe A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...

became part of the Meux identity and was incorporated into its logo. By 1811 annual production had reached 103,502 barrels, making it the sixth largest brewer of porter in London. In 1813/14 the Horse Shoe brewery merged with or acquired Clowes & Co of

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

1814 disaster

On the 17 October 1814, corroded hoops on a large vat at the brewery prompted the sudden release of about of porter. The resulting torrent caused severe damage to the brewery's walls and was powerful enough to cause several heavy wooden beams to collapse. The flood's severity was exacerbated by the landscape, which was generally flat. The brewery was located in a densely populated and tightly packed area of squalid housing (known as the

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding rooks, and more broadly a colony of several types of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-fo ...

). Many of these houses had cellars. To save themselves from the rising tide of alcohol, some of the occupants were forced to climb on furniture. Several adjoining houses were severely damaged, and eight people killed. The accident cost the brewery about £23,000, although it petitioned Parliament for about £7,250 in excise drawback, saving it from bankruptcy.

Post 1814

After the disaster, the brewery continued to be one of the largest producers of porter in London throughout the 19th century. Henry Meux was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1831, and on his death in 1841 his son, also

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

, took over. Production of

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

began in 1872. Meux employed three partners to manage the brewery: Richard Berridge,

Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth, also known as the Laird of Guisachan and Glenaffric (29 December 1820 – 4 March 1894), was a Scottish businessman and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1880 ...

and William Arabin.Oxford DNB
/ref> In 1878,

Henry Bruce Meux Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet (pronounced "Mews") (21 November 1856 – 11 January 1900) was an English baronet, the son of Sir Henry Meux, 2nd Baronet (1817–1883), a brewer and politician. Biography Meux was born in London, educated at E ...

(later 3rd baronet) and Marjoribanks (later Lord Tweedmouth) took over management of the company, which they renamed Meux's Brewery Company Ltd when they registered it as a public company in 1888. Henry Bruce Meux died childless in 1900, and his wife,

Valerie, Lady Meux Valerie Susan, Lady Meux (pronounced "Mews"; ; 1852–1910), was a Devon-born socialite of the Victorian era. She was the wife of Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet (1856–1900), who came from one of Britain’s richest brewing dynasties, Meux ...

, inherited his share of the brewery. She took a liking to Admiral Hedworth Lambton, and he received her large share of the Horse Shoe Brewery when she died in 1910, on condition he changed his name to Meux, which he did. The Horse Shoe Brewery closed in 1921. By this time the site covered , but there was no available land to expand.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 23 February 1922, p.? Production was transferred to the Thorne Brothers'

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth, with some parts (including the Nine Elms tube station, tube station) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It lies on the River Thame ...

brewery in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

, which the company had bought in 1914. The Nine Elms brewery was renamed the Horse Shoe Brewery. The original Horse Shoe Brewery was demolished in 1922, and in 1928–29 the

Dominion Theatre The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on Tottenham Court Road, close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point, in the London Borough of Camden. Planned as primarily a musical theatre, it opened in 1929, but the following ye ...

was erected on the site. In 1956, Meux merged with Friary, Holroyd and Healy of

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

to form Friary Meux, which went into liquidation in November 1961 and the company was acquired by

Allied Breweries Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The b ...

in 1964. The Horse Shoe Brewery ceased to brew in 1966. Friary Meux was revived by Allied in 1979 as a brand name for its public houses, but disappeared after Allied's pubs were sold to

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a consti ...

in 1999. The former

is now a branch of Halifax bank, but there are still traces of the Meux brand in London. Notable, until demolition in 2015, was the "Meux's Original London Stout" logo on the side of the derelict

The Sir George Robey The Sir George Robey was a mid-19th century public house and later a music venue on Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, North London, England. It was named in honour of the music hall performer Sir George Robey (1869–1954) in 1968. The pub w ...

public house in

Seven Sisters Road Seven Sisters Road is a road in north London, England which runs within the boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington, London Borough of Hackney, Hackney and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. It is an extension of Camden Road, runnin ...

near

Finsbury Park station Finsbury Park () is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal interchange station in North London for London Underground, National Rail and London Buses services. The station is the third busiest Underground station outside Zone 1, with over ...

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

* {{refend Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Breweries in London Food and drink companies established in 1764 1921 disestablishments in England 1966 disestablishments in England 1764 establishments in England British companies disestablished in 1966 British companies disestablished in 1921 Buildings and structures demolished in 1922 British companies established in 1764 he:שיטפון הבירה של לונדון ja:ロンドンビール洪水 pt:Dilúvio de cerveja de Londres tr:Londra Bira Seli