Comments
Ann Street Brewery Archive
| Reference | L/A/34 |
| Scope and Content | The brewery was founded in Ann Street, St Helier in 1871 by Mr J S Palmer. By 1878 the Brewery changed ownership to McKay & Co and then to Mckay, Vade & Company. In 1884 the business was owned by Messrs Pinel and Le Masurier, and by 1887 it was listed as belonging to Messrs Le Masurier and Groizard, and from 1888 until 1891 Mr Le Masurier appeared to be in sole charge of the brewery until it was taken over by Messrs R & J Gordon in 1892. In 1893 and 1894 the Jersey Times Almanac for the year 1892 records the owners of the brewery as Messrs Gordon and Gilbey. 1894 saw another change of ownership to Mr Inverness John Bathe and Mr James Reginald Hole. On 23 September 1895 Ann Street Brewery Ltd was formed. After the death of Mr Hole and his wife the sale of his shares enabled a number of islanders to invest in the company. Mr Inverness John Bathe was the first managing director and also the chief brewer until his death in 1927. A portion of the capital owned by him was passed to his son, Greville Inverness Bathe who was involved with the company until his death in 1964. On 23 September 1905 the Ann Street Brewery Co was registered as a limited company. The first secretary of the company was P P Payn, who eventually became managing director. In 1923 Mr Payn began the diversification of the company and purchased 15 hotels and inns in the Island. The first mention of 'Mary Ann' in an advertisement occurred on the front page of The Jersey Morning News of 1 May 1926. The beer was called 'Mary Ann' by James Woodman, the secretary of the brewery at the time and future Managing Director. Mr Inverness John Bathe died, aged 68 in 1927, after his death the board was reconstituted and Mr J R Woodman became its secretary in the place of Mr Payn, who died in 1940. The Occupation of the Island between 1940-1945 obviously had an adverse effect on the business, though brewing continued for the majority of the war. Between 1942 and 1944 the company had to brew for the Occupying Forces with ingredients imported from France. After Mr Payn's death in 1940, Mr Woodman became the Managing Director until his death in 1947 and Mr W J Ralph was Chairman. A new brewery was constructed after the war and was completed in 1950. The company continued to expand in the post-war years but remained a modest-sized business until 1971, when Ian Stephen took over as Managing Director. The business began developing its pub estate holdings, which grew to more than 100 across the Channel Islands and it expanded into the French market acquiring 'L'Abeille' a supplier of private-label soft drinks. In 1972 Ann Street Brewery entered the Brewers Exhibition for the first time and won the Brewers Guardian Cup for the best ketg pale ale in the British Isles. At the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1973, it won a gold medal for Mary Ann Special and a silver medal for its bitter. In 1976 bottled Mary Ann won a gold medal, and another top honour for having the best stout in the British Isles. By the 1990s Ann Street Brewery was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and began expanding onto the English mainland with the purchase of pubs in the south of England. In 2000 the company bought Brubeckers restaurant chain. Tom Scott, who moved to the Island in the 1980s and set up CI Traders, acquired a stake in Ann Street through another company. That shareholding gave Scott the position of Executive Chairman in the company. In 2002 Mr Scott led a three-way merger between Ann Street, Le Riches Stores and CI Traders, creating a group which employed around 2,000 people as had interests in brewing, bottling, manufacturing and sales of beers, wine, spirits, soft drinks plus a growing portfolio of hotels, restaurants and licensed premises. From 1997 the company's real ale operation was based at The Star and Tipsy Toad Brewery in St Peter, which has been founded independently by brewer Steve Skinner in 1992, who had added a second premises The Town House in New Street, St Helier in 1995. In 2008, following a management buyout, the brewery and wine business came under the ownership of Liberation Group and separated from the rest of CI Traders. The brewery had relocated from Ann Street to a much smaller site at Tregear House, Longueville Road in 2004. In 2011 the brewery was renamed 'Liberation Brewery'. The site of the original brewery is in the process of being re-developed. With reference to 'Brewing in Jersey' by Alasdair Crosby, 2013 |
| Names | Ann Street Brewery Company Limited |
| Keywords | breweries |
| Category | L/A-Businesses |
| Level of description | Fonds |