Wards Brewing Company was a

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 bee ...

based at Sheaf Brewery on

Ecclesall Road Ecclesall Road is a road in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that runs for about south-west from Sheffield's city centre under the number A625. At Banner Cross, where the house numbers reach 1001, the road name changes to Ecclesall Road ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England, now a subsidiary of Double Maxim Beer Company. The most famous brand produced was Wards Best Bitter.

History

Early years

In 1837, William Roper and John Kiby started a brewery and business on Effingham Street. Roper died in 1842, leaving John Kiby in sole control. He was joined by George Wright in 1860. Brewery gates on Ecclesall Road

S. H. Ward

Septimus Henry Ward joined the company in 1868 when it ran into financial trouble. Due to the substantial amount he had invested, the primary brand was renamed Wards Best Bitter. George Wright left the partnership a year later. The business continued to expand by buying up other breweries and associated

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. In 1876, it bought the SOHO Brewery and made it its main premises, renaming it to Sheaf Brewery. It was made a limited company called S.H. Wards & Company Limited in 1896. The company continued to expand in the twentieth century by acquiring and restoring pubs. This was halted by the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

due to a lack of raw materials. The brewery was hit by three

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...

s in 1940, which caused the death of four of its workers. Despite these setbacks, it recovered after the end of the war and continued restoring pubs.

Demise

In 1972, the company was acquired by Vaux & Associated Breweries and continued to brew bitter as a subsidiary. Despite still being profitable, the brewery was closed in 1999 as the Vaux company was broken up after an acrimonious takeover by financiers. Members of the Vaux founding family, the Nicholsons, attempted a management buyout of Wards but their offer was rejected. On the final day of operation, an unofficial celebration to mark the years of dedicated work of the Wards staff was held. The much respected operations manager, and former head brewer Paul Simpson (also an RNR officer) was parodied by one of the brewing operatives who wore a homemade sailor suit. Also on this last day, several 'generations' of the brewery's excise officers, including Lorraine Baker and David Bates, bought everyone else a beer by installing a barrel in the brewer tap, The Devonshire, across the road from the brewery. The cremated remains of the last brewery cat, once to be found in the Sample/Training Room, were spirited away and now rest in the house of one of the former excise officers. The land was sold to developers who demolished most of it to make way for luxury apartments. It was revealed later that the price achieved was several million pounds less than the buyout that would have saved this much-loved brewer.

Resurrection

The Wards brand was bought by the Double Maxim Beer Company in 2003 and is run as a subsidiary called Wards Brewing Company. After a successful launch of the bottled version (first brewed again by Robinson's of

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

), and

cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

(originally re-brewed by

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

) all variants are now brewed by Maxim. The branding still states Wards Sheaf Brewery Sheffield.

Brands

*Wards Best Bitter (bottled 4.5% abv) *Wards Best Bitter (cask 4% abv) *Wards 1840 (4.5 abv)

References

History of Wards Best Bitter
{{Sheffield companies, state=collapsed Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Beer and breweries in Sheffield Manufacturing companies based in Sheffield Defunct companies based in Sheffield British companies established in 1837 Food and drink companies established in 1837