INDUSTRIES 





ladder ' in this building is said to be a hun- 

 dred years old, but does its work to-day as well 

 as ever. Like many other London breweries, 

 the Red Lion Brewery is supplied with the 

 purest water by means of a well of great depth 

 sunk on the premises. This well has a 

 diameter of 5 ft. to the depth of 1 00 ft., below 

 which it is carried by two bore-holes, of 1 2 and 

 9 in. diameter respectively, 300 ft. down to 

 the chalk. A further supply of water is 

 obtained from the London Clay by -ther wells 

 of less depth which are only used in summer, 

 when the Thames water is not cold enough 

 for supplying the refrigerators. Up to the 

 beginning of the igth century, says Mr. Bar- 

 nard, 16 the peculiar flavour of porter hitherto 

 thought inimitable gave rise to an opinion 

 that no other than Thames water was calcu- 

 lated to produce good porter. This opinion 

 became so general that not only in the United 

 Kingdom but in the world at large, wherever 

 porter was known and prized as a beverage, 

 the genuine brew was considered as locally 

 confined to London. Here, in the oldest 

 brewery in London, Thames water was never 

 used, the supply from the wells being consid- 

 ered superior for mashing and for preserving 

 the intrinsic quality of the beverage. It is a 

 well known fact that up to quite recently the 

 London brewers were not quite agreed among 

 themselves on the process of brewing porter, 

 each pursuing a different road to the same 

 object, and all pretending to some secret with 

 which the others were supposed to be unac- 

 quainted. 



The brewing of porter is not now confined 

 to London, but is carried on in various parts of 

 the United Kingdom with great success, 

 particularly in Ireland, though Mr. Barnard, 

 speaking from personal experience, has not 

 met with a brew of porter or stout superior to 

 that of Messrs. Hoare in the three kingdoms. 

 One of the storage cellars, 48 yds. long and 

 containing a series of twenty bricked vaults, 

 is said to have been built in the time of 

 Elizabeth. Another, in which the finest 

 stouts are stored and matured, has been known 

 as ' Old London ' from time immemorial. 

 The returns already quoted for the year 1760 

 give the output of this brewery in the time of 

 Lady Parsons as 34,098 barrels, which places 

 it sixth in rank among the principal London 

 brewhouses, and just above that of Thrale the 

 famous Southwark brewer. The brewery is 

 now conducted under the style of Hoare 

 & Co., Ltd. 



A small brewhouse existed about the year 

 1730 on the east side of High Street, Shore- 



ditch, which deserves mention from the interest 

 attaching to its proprietor. This was one 

 Ralph Harwood, who is said to have invented 

 porter. In Curtain Road, Shoreditch, a pub- 

 lic house, known as the ' Blue Last,' formerly 

 displayed a board inscribed, ' The house where 

 porter was first sold.' The beer-drinkers in 

 the early part of the i8th century had the 

 choice of three beverages, known as ale, beer, 

 and 'twopenny.' Those who preferred a 

 combination of any two of these would ask 

 for ' half and half,' whilst some would favour 

 a mixture of all three, and call for a pot of 

 three threads or three thirds. The drawer 

 could only supply this compound by drawing 

 from three different casks a wasteful and in- 

 convenient process. To meet this growing 

 taste it occurred to Ralph Harwood to brew 

 a liquor which should combine in itself the 

 virtues and flavours of the 'three threads' ale, 

 beer, and twopenny. And so was produced 

 a drink which he called ' Entire,' or ' Entire 

 Butts.' This completely met the public taste, 

 and the beverage has never since lost its popu- 

 larity. 



Another famous Middlesex brewery of early 

 date was the Griffin Brewery, in Liquorpond 

 Street, now known as Clerkenwell Road. 

 The locality is one of much interest ; close 

 by are Gray's Inn Road and Hatton Garden, 

 and in Brooke Street, near the brewery, the 

 poet Chatterton brought his life to its sad end. 

 The buildings, which covered upwards of 

 4 acres, extended from the north end of Gray's 

 Inn Lane, across Leather Lane, to Hatton 

 Garden. The business was established some 

 time in the I7th century, and was always 

 noted for its black beer or porter. In 1809 

 the firm dissolved partnership, Mr. Meux 

 acquiring a business for himself in Tottenham 

 Court Road, and Mr. A. Reid retaining pos- 

 session of the old brewhouse in Liquorpond 

 Street. Various distinguished persons from 

 time to time visited the brewery, among them 

 the Emperor Napoleon III, who showed his 

 appreciation of the firm's famous stout by 

 emptying a tankard. 



Pennant 17 gives statistics of the barrels of 

 strong beer brewed by the chief porter brewers 

 of London in 1786-7, in which Richard 

 Meux, who then owned the Griffin Brewery, 

 figures ninth on the list with an output of 

 49,651 barrels. The same writer, speaking 

 of this brewhouse as it existed in his day, 

 says 18 : 



The sight of a great London brewhouse exhibits 

 a magnificence unspeakable. The vessels evince 

 the extent of the trade. Mr. Meux of Liquorpond 



I6 Op. cit. Hi, 58. 



" Thos. Pennant, op. cit. 266. " Ibid. 267. 



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