Smiths Victoria Brewery

[sidwho]

can anyone tell me if there was a fred smith maltings inbetween the vine and aston station on lichfeild road many thanks sidwho

 

[Radiorails]

These links might help:
https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/breweries/birmingham/frederick-smith.htm

https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/breweries/birmingham/atkinsons-brewery.htm

 

[mikejee]

In the 1890 Kellys, no 192 Lichfield Road is listed as Frederick Smith brewer, but in the trade section it is listed as a maltsters. Is shown in red on the c 1889 map

 

[Vivienne14]

William Smith the Younger went into liquidation in 1877. Presumably this is the same family/brewery ? Viv.


From the Birmingham Daily Gazette January 1877.

 

[Oldun]

Frederick Smith.

 

[Moor End Lad]

can anyone tell me if there was a fred smith maltings inbetween the vine and aston station on lichfeild road many thanks sidwho

Yes, on the old building wall facing Lichfield Road on the same side as the Vine it still had the painted words "Frederick Smith's Maltings" to the upper storey up until demolition. I used to see it every day on the way home from school in the 1960s. The actual building was by then occupied by shops including the Birmingham Band Instrument Company, where I bought an electric guitar in 1969.

Sir Frederick Smith was both a longstanding alderman of Birmingham as well as being the first Lord Mayor of Aston. He also had several pubs dotted around Birmingham, which bore his name. He lived on Sutton Road, Erdington, and after he died in 1945 my grandparents bought his house from his daughter.

 

[Astoness]

Yes, on the old building wall facing Lichfield Road on the same side as the Vine it still had the painted words "Frederick Smith's Maltings" to the upper storey up until demolition. I used to see it every day on the way home from school in the 1960s. The actual building was by then occupied by shops including the Birmingham Band Instrument Company, where I bought an electric guitar in 1969.

thanks for that i will check the lichfield road photos as there may be an old photo of the building..will post if i find one..

lyn

 

[Astoness]

In the 1890 Kellys, no 192 Lichfield Road is listed as Frederick Smith brewer, but in the trade section it is listed as a maltsters. Is shown in red on the c 1889 map
View attachment 122414

this building is labelled 190 lichfield road but maybe also took in 192 so did ansells take over the building from frederick smith or as i suspect did ansells demolish smiths brewery and rebuild their own brewery.....maybe someone could confirm...photo dated 1961..if you look at the date plaque on the building i think it says 1905

 

[Vivienne14]

The Lichfield Road bottling plant (and other premises ground rents) were for sale in 1957.

Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[mikejee]

I think there were two separate buildings. The Aston model Brewery at 192 was the brewery, completed in 1889 on one side of the road. In 1892 McKenna (Birmingham Breweries) states that a in 1892 a sixty-quarter malthouse was constructed, I think this must have been separate on the opposite side of the road., and would be the the building Moor End Lad remembers. I have two photos of this building, which the caption states is in Lichfield Road, and also states it was demolished in 1961 (though captions can be wrong). These two photos are below:

 

[Richard Dye]

Slightly off topic: what was the attraction to this part of Litchfield Rd, Aston for breweries? Was it water and if so where did it come from?
Thank you for indulging!
Happy Easter everyone…….

 

[superdad3]

Slightly off topic: what was the attraction to this part of Litchfield Rd, Aston for breweries? Was it water and if so where did it come from?
Thank you for indulging!
Happy Easter everyone…….

I think early BHam breweries often used boreholes. In 1922 Smiths sunk another borehole to supplement water supply.
Taken over by Butlers in 1955.

 

[Moor End Lad]

I think there were two separate buildings. The Aston model Brewery at 192 was the brewery, completed in 1889 on one side of the road. In 1892 McKenna (Birmingham Breweries) states that a in 1892 a sixty-quarter malthouse was constructed, I think this must have been separate on the opposite side of the road., and would be the the building Moor End Lad remembers. I have two photos of this building, which the caption states is in Lichfield Road, and also states it was demolished in 1961 (though captions can be wrong). These two photos are below:

View attachment 200973View attachment 200974

You've beaten me to posting that I've now had a chance to study your map in post #3. I was never aware of a brewery on the west side of Lichfield Road, as highlighted on the map, so it could have been demolished in 1961 as stated. My memories from 1964 to 1971 are of the east side of the road, where I recall "Frederick Smith's Maltings" rendered in fading black paint rather than embossed brick.

PS Looking at your map again, it shows tunnel-back housing on the east side of Lichfield Road, not industrial premises, although things could have changed since the date of the map.

 

[Moor End Lad]

this building is labelled 190 lichfield road but maybe also took in 192 so did ansells take over the building from frederick smith or as i suspect did ansells demolish smiths brewery and rebuild their own brewery.....maybe someone could confirm...photo dated 1961..if you look at the date plaque on the building i think it says 1905

View attachment 200960

I have no memory of this scene at all during the period 1964 to 1971. However, quite by chance I've just been looking at a photo of the same building described as "the offices of Ansells Brewery" being passed by one of the last trams in 1953 (ref "Birmingham City Transport" by David Harvey page 36). I don't recognise this building in connection with Ansells main brewery at Aston Cross, which I knew well.

PS I've just had another look at the photo I referred to above, and I note that the buildings opposite are shops, not the maltings as shown in post #10.

 

[Pedrocut]

I think there were two separate buildings. The Aston model Brewery at 192 was the brewery, completed in 1889 on one side of the road. In 1892 McKenna (Birmingham Breweries) states that a in 1892 a sixty-quarter malthouse was constructed, I think this must have been separate on the opposite side of the road., and would be the the building Moor End Lad remembers. I have two photos of this building, which the caption states is in Lichfield Road, and also states it was demolished in 1961 (though captions can be wrong). These two photos are below:

View attachment 200973View attachment 200974

Harboured Herald November 1892…

 

[Moor End Lad]

I think early BHam breweries often used boreholes. In 1922 Smiths sunk another borehole to supplement water supply.
Taken over by Butlers in 1955.

Your photo #3 is the same building as shown in the photos in post #10. I'm thinking that all the buildings pictured so far are on the same western side of Lichfield Road and were demolished in 1961, Ansells having consolidated its operations at Aston Cross, where a tall extension was being built in 1953. Photo attached, which shows the northern end of the brewery as seen from the demolished remains of Catherine Street c1975.

 

[Astoness]

Your photo #3 is the same building as shown in the photos in post #10. I'm thinking that all the buildings pictured so far are on the same western side of Lichfield Road and were demolished in 1961, Ansells having consolidated its operations at Aston Cross, where a tall extension was being built in 1953. Photo attached.View attachment 201161

maybe taken from around here

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