Voices from the
Old Ulverston Brewery

The earliest reference to brewing on the Hart Street site is from 1873. It closed in 1991. That's a lot of beer.

Welcome to Home Brew Heritage.

For the story of those early days and of his own time there as Head Brewer from the 40's on, we have Eric Simpson's account written for The Brewer, the Brewing History Society magazine, and included here with their permission in our archives section.

If you want to work out exactly how much beer flowed out of Hart Street, look on Eric's page for his calculation of his own era's contribution might give you some idea...

Commissioned by local housing organisation Homes For Ulverston CLT LTD in 2020, Home Brew Heritage will remain open for any further contributions from former Brewery employees, anyone with a family connection, a story to tell or a piece of history to share with us.

While Covid restrictions have been in place we have been able to carry on with the work online or by telephone, and we are grateful to our friends at the Facebook page Ulverston Past And Present Photos for helping us find an audience and lots of contacts and material during a difficult time.

A lot of what is mentioned here is lost; the smell of the mash over the town, the drays...the cockroaches....and the beer. But these voices and their stories are here, and hopefully we will continue to add to this collection of voices from Ulverston's old Brewery.

Our thanks to our supporters at the National Heritage Lottery and the Sir John Fisher Foundation, and to all our friends and contributors.

John Hall, Project Manager

Photographs: Nigel Saul

From Top:

The Yard At Hart Street, with

Ethel Cairns checking returned bottles.

Water entering the Fermentation Vessels.

The Fermentation Vessels..the Cockroach playground.

The Malt Room

Homes for Ulverston

Homes For Ulverston CLT Ltd is an exempt charitable Community Benefit Society that aims to support local people in finding their own solutions to their housing needs.

The group’s members can create projects that are linked to the low-cost housing objective and which create opportunities that lead to new businesses, greater well-being of residents and/or enhancements to our projects.

Homes For Ulverston CLT