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Birmingham's last tower brewery building

Pedrocut

Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
Edit - extracts in this and the following 3 posts have been copied to this thread from the Saltley thread.

A couple of screenshots taken from Morturn’s video showing the roof garden on top of the derelict building. The water feature is looking good and the native silver birch trees are coming on well.
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For those not familiar with Brum, the first building in the shoot (mentioned by Pedrocut) is the old City Brewery on Cato St
 
Yes the two main buildings shown in the clip are still there (just about), obviously if they are listed the Council are waiting for them to fall down. As has been stated the old brewery in Cato Street North started out as the Vale of Evesham Brewery and then the Midland Brewery when it was bought out by Holders Brewery .........
 
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Old Mill, on Cato Street North, still standing derelict. its even got a roof top garden,,
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View from Inside J H Richards

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This is a view from Cato Street North,

This Cato Street North was quite popular apparently, it was all residential housing but now there is not one single house all commercial / industrial premises
 
With the loss of established brewers and the new methods of brewing has consigned the tower system of brewing to history. Yet the is still one building that survives in Cato Street North that once was a brewery.
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The Ordnance survey of 1903 confirms the status as a brewery

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I was born (June 1930) next door to a tower Brewery, Atkinson's Brewery Queens Rd Aston, they actually owned the house. Incidentally they allowed the locals to use its cellars as a shelter during the war. I think it was demolished during the 60's
 
It was City Brewery. Here it is in 1956. An interesting structure to house the tower brewing system. Looks in a sorry state today. Viv.

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I think this is the same place as shown in another thread. The other thread includes photos from above - nicely showing the 'roof garden'.
 
Thanks for the pointer Alan. I’ve copied extracts from 4 relevant posts to this thread. I think this building deserves its own thread given its history and current state. Viv.
 
Hutton Brothers commenced brewing in Cato Street North in 1883. This brewery was completed in 1890 and that year Huttons Brewery ltd was established to run the Birmingham City Brewery. The property included the Rob Roy Stores fronting Cato Street North. The City Brewery was advertised for sale in 1900 and subsequently became the Vale of Evesham brewery. the clear out sale of brewery plant was on July 15th 1909.
 
Heartland said:
Hutton Brothers commenced brewing in Cato Street North in 1883. This brewery was completed in 1890 and that year Huttons Brewery ltd was established to run the Birmingham City Brewery. The property included the Rob Roy Stores fronting Cato Street North. The City Brewery was advertised for sale in 1900 and subsequently became the Vale of Evesham brewery. the clear out sale of brewery plant was on July 15th 1909.
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In November 1868 the Birmingham Daily Gazette reports, in its “election notes,” various meeting
places. One being The Brewery, Cato Street.
 
Brothers Richard Bray Hutton and Thomas Hutton initially had brewing premises at 4, Rea Street between c1881 and March 1889 - when they moved into their newly-built City Brewery in Cato Street North. The latter premises had been built on the site of the Saltley Brewery, operated by Richard Carr around 1860, and then John Gray's Rob Roy Brewery. The Cato Street brewery appears to ceased operating in 1915, when owned by Holder's, and probably sold when M & B took-over Holders in 1919. The brewery then became a bakery for many years.
 
Heartland said:
With the loss of established brewers and the new methods of brewing has consigned the tower system of brewing to history. Yet the is still one building that survives in Cato Street North that once was a brewery.
View attachment 129466

The Ordnance survey of 1903 confirms the status as a brewery

View attachment 129467
Click to expand...

Can I put a spanner in the works here. I have not researched this in detail but in my humble opinion the brewery is the building BELOW the words Brewery on the above map extract. This was the earlier brewery referred to above.
 
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www.midlandspubs.co.uk said:
Can I put a spanner in the works here. I have not researched this in detail but in my humble opinion the brewery is the building BELOW the words Brewery on the above map extract. The building in the photographs, again IMHO, is the former bedstead works. Indeed, looking at the structure it does not have the look of a brewery - all those windows would be fine for a factory but not good in terms of brewing beer.
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Further ... re pic in Post #8, the entry to the left of the bloke on the ladder led to Rob Roy Yard. This was between the bedstead works and the Saltley Brewery and is marked as such on a map surveyed in 1888. Trade directories of this period have the bedstead works at 27-9 whilst the brewery is at 20-1.
 
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Kieron
Cannot disagree with your statements , but am a little concerned that the NLS overay puts the present building accurately at neither of those two positions (OK, I know that overlays are not always completely accurate ) and that the shape of the building corresponds far more to the shape of the brewery than to that of the bedstead works
 
Hi Mike, I had not used the NLS overlay before - quite enlightening. This appears to put the building on the site of former cottages in Rob Roy Yard. The boundary between these sites and Yew Tree Terrace is the constant in this overlay - the boundary lines still following 19th century patterns. Part of the building occupied by Humsafar Wedding Services appears to occupy the former site of the brewery behind the old Rob Roy Stores. I found this NLS overlay quite intriguing and will use it for future research so thanks for introducing me to that.
 
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Looking at the pic in Post #8, despite the proliferation of glass, there are elements of the building that may point to a former brewery. The projecting hoist/lift for taking grains to the top of the building. Also the additional roof canopy for ventilation of a malt store? Anyway, here is part of an interesting item that shows Hutton's built a new brewery in Cato Street.

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Well, between some cycling and watching cycling [Vuelta a España] I have been badgering away on this building. I had my doubts about the place and never like to publish anything I have not seen for myself. However, I have found enough evidence to show that this building was erected by Hutton's. My findings are at : https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/birmingham/cato-street-north/

I have only delved into the story of Hutton's - some may be surprised about the brewer's ancestry. I will dig into the City Brewery and Vale of Evesham Brewery to complete the brewery picture on this place. I have covered a bit on the firm that occupied the building in later years and were still there when the photograph was taken in 1956.
 
www.midlandspubs.co.uk said:
By the way, Lyn - this isn't your dad is it? I keep hoping that one of my window cleaner pics will be him !!

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definately not my dad kieron..but i always keep a keen eye out just in case i spot him in a photograph...his window round was around the aston/newtown/lozells areas...closest i have got is one of his V ladders propped outside the swan inn corner of villa st and farm st with his bucket on the pavement...i showed him the photo some years back and he confirmed he was inside the pub settling the dust :D

lyn

lyn
 
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