1. : Origins
This was indeed a very old brewery : certainly as old
as 1563, when owned by John Barnard, and known as
the Conisford Brewery.
Later owned by the Allen family, it was sold to
Edward Tompson in 1660. (For some odd reason,
the Morgan family later claimed a foundation date
of 1720)
Nockold Tompson was an attorney as well as
a brewer, and Mayor in 1759.
It may very well be the same Thomson [sic] mentioned
as having a brew-house near the Crown Inn in
St. Stephen's Street - vide Norfolk Chronicle
3rd February 1776.
His estate passed to two relatives (S. and J.)
in September 1778.
By 1783 listed as Tompson, Stackhouse & Co.
of 49 King Street.
In 1802 Timothy Tompson is listed at 37 King Street
(both numbers in the old sequential system).
Charles Tompson was listed in 1822 and 1830.
"Tompson's Nog" was a particularly strong ale.
2. : Exit Tompsons
Charles Kett Tompson and Henry Kett Tompson
did not sell-out to the Morgan brothers
(John Brandram Morgan & Walter) until 1844/1845.
There were auctions of the pubs in November 1844,
but the 54 conveyances were on 25th March 1845.
According to the 1845 Official List,
however, they
had 59 tied pubs in the City area, including the "tap"
Tompson's Cellar
(i.e. 14.4% of all major** ties).
Almost immediately (May 1845) Walter was drowned
in a brewery vat, having been overcome with fumes.
Henry Morgan had joined Charles by 1850, and by
1879 the name was Morgan & Co. Henry oversaw the
formation of the Limited Company in 1887, John
having retired or died by 1868.
At that time 106 pubs were owned and 82 leased
by the Old Brewery.
3. : Expansions
Takeovers by Morgan's did not involve any City
breweries, but there was a rash of County takeovers :-
- 1889 : Huddlestone's Crown Brewery, Chatteris
- 1890 : Bourke & Ewles, Grimston
- May 1894 : Wm. Cann & Co. Wymondham Brewery
- 1894 : Golden Dog Brewery, Norwich
- 1896 : Cozens-Hardy & Sons Letheringsett Brewery
- 1900 : Elijah Eyre's Lady Bridge Brewery,
King's Lynn
Usefully, as it turned out, Eyre's was kept as
a going concern under its own name.
In 1890 the firm was listed as brewers, maltsters,
wine & spirits merchants and mineral water manufacturers.
They were then represented in Grimston, London,
Newcastle, Ipswich and Chatteris.
Also in 1890 the head brewer, by the odd name of
William H. Hackblock, lived in palatial splendour
at Mousehold House.
Continued . . .
| |
3. : Expansions (contd.)
By 1904 there were some 600 pubs
either owned or leased by the brewery.
In 1907 further branches had been added to
their published list :-
Ely
Fakenham
Gt. Yarmouth
Holt
King's Lynn
Letheringsett
Loddon
| N. Walsham
Peterborough
Spalding
Stalham
Watton
Wisbech
Wymondham
|
Rather like S. & P., they had taken their eye off the ball
in their home City. In 1914, despite being the oldest
brewery in the City, Morgan's had only 73 tied-houses
in the City itself, being 16.2% of the City total
for the **major brewers.
Nevertheless, they took over E. & G. Morse's
Crown Brewery, Lowestoft in 1936 and
Trunch Brewery (with 9 tied houses) in 1952.
4. : Misfortunes
Severe war damage in June 1942 forced a transfer of
brewing to the King's Lynn brewery (ex-Elijah Eyre)
which had fortuitously been left alone.
Other Norwich breweries also helped out,
depite being competitors.
Nevertheless STANDLEY, Philip :
Norwich - in old postcards, Vol. 1, shows a 1942
photo of the vehicle loading bay in King Street.
The King Street brewery was re-built in 1946/7
and production resumed there in 1950.
Under this heading, it seems fairly appropriate to record
the death of Francis W. W. Morgan, who had been a
director of the brewery since 1913 and its Chairman
since 1933.
He died in October 1949 at the grand old age of 82.
5. : The Joint Takeover
The "tied estate" having shrunk to 450 houses by 1961,
and for other reasons(??), Morgans opted for
Voluntary Liquidation on 29th September 1961.
But, by prior arrangement, the firm was taken over by
Bullards and S. & P.
- in a joint venture - in 1961;
the two firms sharing some 450 pubs between them.
Allegedly this was done by the cutting of cards
(Eastern Daily Press 1st November 1974)
- but see a closer account under the Bullard's notes.
However, a few pubs were quickly re-allocated !.
These amendments followed a letter (26.5.61) from
Julian Crawshay to Sir Edward Bullard, explaining that
the initial carve-up of pubs was some 1000 barrels p.a.
in favour of S. & P. - "but there may be swaps later..."
The brewery itself passed to Watney Mann of London;
who, by 1976, had re-named it "Norwich Brewery".
At the time, far from being an old set of buildings
(see para.4), it was the newest facility in the City;
but Watney's closed it in April 1985.
All but one of the brewery buildings were
destroyed in the winter of 1989. |