Everards
Encyclopedia
Everards is an independent British regional brewery founded in Leicester
in 1849 by William Everard and Thomas Hull.
It produces cask ale
s and owns over 160 tenanted pubs, mainly around the Leicestershire
area and has won 'The Publican Pub Company of the Year Award' three times.
The company is one of very few business which has been run by the same family for over 150 years. Its chairman is fifth generation Richard Everard.
The business expanded as the company progressively acquired outlets, with over 100 pubs by the late 1880s.
In 1875 the company moved to a new state of the art tower brewery designed by Thomas's nephew architect John Everard. The brewery, on the corner of Southgate st and Castle St extracted very pure water from wells 300 feet deep beneath the premises and steam engines played a significant part in the mechanisation.
After the death of William, control passed to his son Thomas. The historic centre of the UK brewing industry remained some 40 miles away at Burton-upon-Trent, which by the 1890s produced one tenth of Britain's beer. Everard's leased the Bridge Brewery on Umplett Green island in 1895 but its 10,000 barrels per year capacity proved insufficient. It was replaced with the newer Trent brewery in Dale St which became available after going into liquidation in 1898. The Southgate brewery remained the distribution centre to the Leicestershire pubs with beer arriving by rail from Burton. The Trent brewery was purchased outright in 1901.(sources differ) It was renamed the Tiger Brewery around 1970.
Beer production was seriously affected by World War I
, both due to recruitment and the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
which required beer to be diluted, restricted opening times and rationed raw materials.
In 1920,(sources differ) Everards bought wine and spirit merchants John Sarsons & Son of Hotel St Leicester, a major supplier to wealthy homes.
Thomas moved his family from Narborough Wood House to Nanpantan
Hall. In 1909 he opened a cattle trough in Groby on behalf of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
. and in 1921, a year which saw beer production peak at 55,000 barrels, the company acquired the Stamford arms in Groby
, the former home of both Thomas's grandfather, Richard Everard a yeoman tenant farmer of the Grey estate and his great grandfather.
In 1924, the company completed its move away from rail transport to steam powered drays which continued in use until replaced by petrol lorries in 1946.
Thomas died in 1925 and was succeeded by his son William Lindsay Everard
who lived in Ratcliffe Hall.
The Great Depression
saw a penny tax on beer.
Production fell by a fifth and took five years to recover and all brewing ceased at Southgate in 1931.
Everards became a public company, Everards Brewery Ltd in October 1936.
Following the outbreak of World War II
, the Government increased excise duty tripling the price of a pint by the end of the war. A combination of conscription and a shortage of hops reduced the Leicester operation at times to 3 men.
Following Sir Lindsay's death in 1949, his son Tony Everard, who had been wounded in Normandy in 1944, took over. In the 1950s he developed the concept of "Everards Friendly Inns" designed to "look like your front room" which succeeded in attracting women into what was traditionally a male preserve. In November 1950 the first long service awards were made at a dinner to found the Quarter Century club.
Although pubs rarely came onto the market, the demolition of a number of older ones during construction of the Leicester inner ringroad in the sixties allowed the company to build new ones such as the Shakespeare in Braunstone
and the Firs at Wigston. In 1967 the company employed almost 700 staff and operated 125 pubs.
Like his father Tony had a keen interest in aviation and in 1966 he founded the Helicopter Club of Great Britain and opened a heliport at Ratcliffe.
The Airman's rest hotel in Leicester Forest East
was designed to welcome fliers and equipped with a heliport.
In 1979 the company bought 54 hectares at Grove Farm triangle and phase I of the new brewery -named Castle acres after the Castle street premises - was opened on 29 March 1985 by local MP Nigel Lawson
. It had a capacity of 125 barrels of Old Original per year. The Tiger brewery in Burton became a museum though it continued to produced Tiger under contract. By 1990, Castle Acres was producing nearly 70,000 barrels, the contract with the museum ended and for the first time since 1892, all Everards beer was brewed in Leicester.
In 1988 Richard Everard, nephew of Tony, became chairman. He confirmed that Everards would remain an independent family business and in 1997 it repurchased its remaining preference shares to become a private business again. The company also invested in budget hotels, named 'Original Inns' based around existing pubs.
In February 1999, the company celebrated its first 150 years with a visit from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
. Celebrations, perhaps as befitting a brewery, "continued throughout the year," and included the pubs. The 'Founders day' saw Richard Everard presented with a bronze figure of a tiger sculpted by Mark Coreth
.
In 2002, the company decided to switch its portfolio from a mixture of tenancies and managed houses to tenancies only. This led to new pubs replacing hotels and the estate achieved its highest total of 165 by 2005.
Seasonal ales include Equinox (4.2%), Sleighbell (4.5%), Sly Fox (4.0%) and Flourish (3.5%).
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
in 1849 by William Everard and Thomas Hull.
It produces cask ale
Cask ale
Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure...
s and owns over 160 tenanted pubs, mainly around the Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
area and has won 'The Publican Pub Company of the Year Award' three times.
The company is one of very few business which has been run by the same family for over 150 years. Its chairman is fifth generation Richard Everard.
History
The company began as Hull and Everard in 1849 when William Everard, a farmer from Narborough Wood House and brewer Thomas Hull leased the Southgate Street Brewery of Wilmot and Co from the retiring proprietors. Although Hull continued as a maltster, Everard was the driving force behind the business which he managed until his death in 1892.The business expanded as the company progressively acquired outlets, with over 100 pubs by the late 1880s.
In 1875 the company moved to a new state of the art tower brewery designed by Thomas's nephew architect John Everard. The brewery, on the corner of Southgate st and Castle St extracted very pure water from wells 300 feet deep beneath the premises and steam engines played a significant part in the mechanisation.
After the death of William, control passed to his son Thomas. The historic centre of the UK brewing industry remained some 40 miles away at Burton-upon-Trent, which by the 1890s produced one tenth of Britain's beer. Everard's leased the Bridge Brewery on Umplett Green island in 1895 but its 10,000 barrels per year capacity proved insufficient. It was replaced with the newer Trent brewery in Dale St which became available after going into liquidation in 1898. The Southgate brewery remained the distribution centre to the Leicestershire pubs with beer arriving by rail from Burton. The Trent brewery was purchased outright in 1901.(sources differ) It was renamed the Tiger Brewery around 1970.
Beer production was seriously affected by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, both due to recruitment and the Defence of the Realm Act 1914
Defence of the Realm Act 1914
The Defence of the Realm Act was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, during the early weeks of World War I. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war period, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for the war effort, or to make regulations creating...
which required beer to be diluted, restricted opening times and rationed raw materials.
In 1920,(sources differ) Everards bought wine and spirit merchants John Sarsons & Son of Hotel St Leicester, a major supplier to wealthy homes.
Thomas moved his family from Narborough Wood House to Nanpantan
Nanpantan
Nanpantan is a small village in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is located in the south-west of the town of Loughborough, but the village is slightly separated from the main built-up area of Loughborough...
Hall. In 1909 he opened a cattle trough in Groby on behalf of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was an association set up in London by Samuel Gurney an MP and philanthropist and Edward Thomas Wakefield, a barrister in 1859 to provide free drinking water...
. and in 1921, a year which saw beer production peak at 55,000 barrels, the company acquired the Stamford arms in Groby
Groby
Groby is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,301.-Description:...
, the former home of both Thomas's grandfather, Richard Everard a yeoman tenant farmer of the Grey estate and his great grandfather.
In 1924, the company completed its move away from rail transport to steam powered drays which continued in use until replaced by petrol lorries in 1946.
Thomas died in 1925 and was succeeded by his son William Lindsay Everard
William Lindsay Everard
Sir William Lindsay Everard was a brewer, politician, and philanthropist from Leicestershire, United Kingdom. As the founder and supporter of the Ratcliffe Aerodrome, Sir Lindsay was a pioneer aviator, knighted for his crucial efforts in World War II with the Air Transport Auxiliary...
who lived in Ratcliffe Hall.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
saw a penny tax on beer.
Production fell by a fifth and took five years to recover and all brewing ceased at Southgate in 1931.
Everards became a public company, Everards Brewery Ltd in October 1936.
Following the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Government increased excise duty tripling the price of a pint by the end of the war. A combination of conscription and a shortage of hops reduced the Leicester operation at times to 3 men.
Following Sir Lindsay's death in 1949, his son Tony Everard, who had been wounded in Normandy in 1944, took over. In the 1950s he developed the concept of "Everards Friendly Inns" designed to "look like your front room" which succeeded in attracting women into what was traditionally a male preserve. In November 1950 the first long service awards were made at a dinner to found the Quarter Century club.
Although pubs rarely came onto the market, the demolition of a number of older ones during construction of the Leicester inner ringroad in the sixties allowed the company to build new ones such as the Shakespeare in Braunstone
Braunstone Town
Braunstone is a civil parish and is the largest parish within the district of Blaby in Leicestershire, England, now known as the Town of Braunstone or more commonly, Braunstone Town. At 2007 the population is around 15,000. There are around 7,500 households including Thorpe Astley.Braunstone is...
and the Firs at Wigston. In 1967 the company employed almost 700 staff and operated 125 pubs.
Like his father Tony had a keen interest in aviation and in 1966 he founded the Helicopter Club of Great Britain and opened a heliport at Ratcliffe.
The Airman's rest hotel in Leicester Forest East
Leicester Forest East
Leicester Forest East or LFE is a settlement in Leicestershire, England, west of Leicester, straddling the M1 motorway. It is part of the Blaby district.LFE is a popular location among commuters and young families...
was designed to welcome fliers and equipped with a heliport.
In 1979 the company bought 54 hectares at Grove Farm triangle and phase I of the new brewery -named Castle acres after the Castle street premises - was opened on 29 March 1985 by local MP Nigel Lawson
Nigel Lawson
Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974–92, and served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher from June 1983 to October 1989...
. It had a capacity of 125 barrels of Old Original per year. The Tiger brewery in Burton became a museum though it continued to produced Tiger under contract. By 1990, Castle Acres was producing nearly 70,000 barrels, the contract with the museum ended and for the first time since 1892, all Everards beer was brewed in Leicester.
In 1988 Richard Everard, nephew of Tony, became chairman. He confirmed that Everards would remain an independent family business and in 1997 it repurchased its remaining preference shares to become a private business again. The company also invested in budget hotels, named 'Original Inns' based around existing pubs.
In February 1999, the company celebrated its first 150 years with a visit from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
. Celebrations, perhaps as befitting a brewery, "continued throughout the year," and included the pubs. The 'Founders day' saw Richard Everard presented with a bronze figure of a tiger sculpted by Mark Coreth
Mark Coreth
-Biography:Mark Coreth was born in London in 1958 and was immediately dispatched to the family farm in the Kenyan highlands where the Equator ran through the house. Black and white colobus monkeys leapt amongst the branches in the trees behind the house where leopard and cheetah also lived...
.
In 2002, the company decided to switch its portfolio from a mixture of tenancies and managed houses to tenancies only. This led to new pubs replacing hotels and the estate achieved its highest total of 165 by 2005.
Beers
Everards brews four core brands :- Beacon (3.8%) A lighter product than Tiger, named after Beacon Hill, LeicestershireBeacon Hill, LeicestershireBeacon Hill, near Loughborough, in Leicestershire, England, is a popular country park. It is one of several beacon hills in the United Kingdom.The park consists of of grassland and woodland and offers recreational walking, and some short climbs...
and launched in the early 1970s. - Tiger (4.2%) First produced in 1972 named for the nickname pf the Leicestershire Regiment. Originally known as Best Bitter. The company also adopted the tiger as its logo and will sponsor the Leicester TigersLeicester TigersLeicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...
rugby club until 2018. - Original (5.2%) Formerly Old Original, an old aleOld aleOld ale is a term commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% abv, also to dark ales of any strength in Australia. Sometimes associated with stock ale or, archaically, keeping ale, in which the beer is held at the brewery....
first produced in 1978 and the first Everards beer advertised on television. - Sunchaser (4.0%)
Seasonal ales include Equinox (4.2%), Sleighbell (4.5%), Sly Fox (4.0%) and Flourish (3.5%).