This week I have been laying the foundations of the brewing book, that is setting up all the files and so on correctly. Sounds dull (it is, though also essential) but it means that when I come to start writing, I don’t have to think about publisher’s house style, it is all set up and ready to go. The house style manual in this case is 62 pages long! (I’ve seen longer.) It introduced me to the ‘en rule’ which I confess to not having heard of before. In my ignorance I thought a hyphen – like so – was what went between bits of a sentence (excuse the poor English). But no, it is an ‘en rule’, which is longer than a hyphen and can be obtained on a PC keyboard by pressing ctrl then the minus sign on the numerical keypad. Heavens. So much for this week’s learning experience. Anyway, that’s enough house style, here’s some photos from a year or so back in Nottingham, at the former Home Brewery in Daybrook. The 1950s facade has a string of lovely reliefs in cast iron by the local architectural sculptor Charles Doman (1884-1944); there are three designs, repeated several times, showing the brewing process. The building was begun in 1938 but only completed after the war. The surviving section on Mansfield Road now functions as council offices.

Really this continues the photo story from last week, as here are a few of my Greene King Brewery pics from Bury St Edmunds. The sun chose to shine very briefly, just long enough for a handsome shot of the interwar brewhouse. This week I’ve been in Stoke-on-Trent, where the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery has an exhibition called Picturing the Potteries (runs until 7 May 2012). Aside from some very nice artwork, the ceramic pieces include a lovely jug advertising Johnson’s Tunstall Brewery (late 19th century?) with a superb image of the entire brewery, very detailed. Well worth a look. There used to be a Brewery Street in Tunstall – on the northern edge of Stoke-on-Trent - but that has long gone, as has the brewery for which it was named.

Out and about in Norwich and Bury St Edmunds this week, taking photos of a couple of former brewery sites in the former, and of course Greene King in the latter. Sadly not time enough for a brewery tour – hope to do that in the nearish future – but at least had long enough to look round the little Greene King museum. Next time I visit will have to go down to the marshes below the town centre, to get a view of their whizzy distribution centre. Norwich was delightful, and East Anglian sunshine fortunately continued. Went first to what’s left of the old Crown Brewery site near the station, where the small-scale yard buildings remain, and some malt kiln tiles have beeen used to pave an outside area. The whole complex is now used by the local education authority. More exciting – and one of the first breweries I ever set eyes on – was the Anchor Brewery site north of the city centre and right down by the River Wensum. Several large structures remain, alas not the black chimney (the base only has been kept) which used to have the word Bullards in white lettering running down it. Finally to the City Hall of 1938, where some very fine bronze doors bear reliefs celebrating local history and industry. Brewing is represented by a well-formed vat. The reliefs were by the sculptor James Woodford (1893-1976). And talking of Woodforde’s, I did of course try some of their local ale. Had to settle for Nelson’s Revenge, a bit thin for my taste at 4.5, maybe next time I can locate a pint of their 5% Admiral’s Reserve. Methinks Headcracker might be too much of a good thing at 7%! This week off to London and Stoke-on-Trent, not really on brewing business but may be able to take in a photo site or two.

This week am off to Norwich, to take photos of what’s left of Bullard’s Anchor Brewery. Sadly its tall black chimney has gone – used to park nearby when on days out in Norwich as a kid, it was a real landmark. However the plaque from its base survives, built into the new development, as do some buildings, now office/residential. Also need to photograph the great bronze doors on City Hall, as there is a visual tribute to the local malting industry. Although I’ll be in Lowestoft at some point over the weekend, sadly there’s not time to venture as far south as Southwold and Adnams, so here’s a few pictures of the Adnams shop cafe to remind us what we are missing – I do like the use of various vats and other brewing paraphernalia; if it can’t stay in the brewery, at least it is performing a useful function. Not every day one has a coffee sat inside a vat!

Last weekend made a quick trip out to Hartlepool, to see and photograph the exterior of Cameron’s Lion Brewery. Lovely sunshine but bitterly cold. The only listed part of the brewery is one of three lions decorating the railings to the east of the brewery itself. He (it is definitely a chap) was listed in 1985 and dates, says the list description, from around 1852. He is made of stone – too late to be Coade stone – and is ‘statant’, that is in profile with all four legs/paws on the ground. He is a handsome statue but in a particularly difficult spot to photograph, wedged between bits of road sign and advertising. He appears to be the only surviving remnant of the original Lion Brewery. His two chums to north and south, probably of concrete, are less interesting but more graphic. The brewery tower rears up behind the red-painted lion, half hidden by modern fermenters, and there are all sorts of nice details, especially the Brewery Street sign. How many Brewery Streets are there in Britain, I wonder? More research required. The same goes for the rather good pub sign on the brewery tap – how many pub signs in Britain show parts of the brewing process? To be continued…..

Consolidation, followed by an interruption in the form of a request to write an article on cricket pavilions for a conservation journal. So am briefly concentrating on cricket before being submerged in beer again shortly. Of course, cricket and beer do go together historically - after all, it is not so long ago (relatively) that a cricket match was the only place you could get a beer on a Sunday afternoon! Thus I spent several Sundays at Edgbaston, and occasionally even saw some cricket. Anyway, and meanwhile, here’s a few pics of the Phoenix Brewery (former) in Newbury, which I saw last August on the way to visit the Stanley Spencer murals in the chapel at Burghclere. The phoenix itself still – surprisingly – survives over the gateway, while the 18th century brewer’s house and the brewhouse in courtyard to rear are both listed. The brewhouse was converted to a store in 1923, and now appears to be in residential use. The list description says there is an article on the brewery in the Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club (wonderful name), volume 12 for 1972. The club is online but its transactions are not, so that’s one to chase up.

Arkells Brewery Swindon

Last time I went to English Heritage’s archives in Swindon, I had a chance to get the bus out to Arkells Brewery – it was May, it was sunny, just how a brewery should look. Enjoy!