Demolished at some point between Sept 2021 and April 2022.
Building of pinkish brick, slate roof. 5 storeys at either end, 3 storeys in the centre. Premises once served by a railway siding. Buildings referred to as brewery on (2). (1)

18 bays long, 4 kilns. In good repair. Owned by Shipstones. (3)

Designed by George Radford for the Beeston Brewery Company. Plans submitted on 19/1/1898. Alterations made for Shipstone and Sons Ltd. in 1924. (4)

Operated by Shipstones since 1922. (5)
Malting Foreman's House subject of a pre-demolition photographic survey. (5)

Mill subject of a Level-2 photographic survey, undertaken both pre and during demolition 2012/13. (6)

The development of the site, located to the north-west side of the Nottingham to Derby railway line, is thought to have been begun circa 1878. It was designed as an integrated brewery with both maltings and brewery functions. The designs were prepared by Wilson and Co., Brewers Engineers of Frome, for the Beeston Brewery Company Ltd., and included proposals for a pneumatic maltings, the first of its kind to be built in England. The maltings were built by Waite, Corbould and Faulkner who were the first to obtain the right to use Galland's Patent System of Pneumatic Malting, and construction of the site was complete by 1880. A manager's house was constructed at the entrance to the site, and extended in 1890. It is not clear how long this first phase site remained operational, although extensions were planned for the brewery in 1884 and a new barley store was constructed in 1898. Malting may have ceased on site soon after 1900, as the O.S. map of 1914 refers to the site only as 'Brewery'. In 1924, the site underwent a major remodelling under the new owners, Messrs James Shipstone and Son Ltd, Brewers, of New Basford. The remodelling was intended to convert the site into a modern, but traditional floor maltings. This involved the cessation of brewing on the site and of the operation of the pneumatic maltings, if this was still being undertaken. Much of the original building was taken down including the north and west outer wall, the second and attic floor structures, the roof structure, and part of the malt kiln range at the north-east end of the complex. In the late twentieth century, further alterations were carried out, involving the heightening and re-roofing of the north-east end of the complex where the kiln was located, the construction of a new screen floor and the installation of new furnaces. This significantly altered the appearance of the kiln building, one of the most visually distinctive components of the maltings complex. The building remained in use as a maltings until December 2000, and was the last operational floor maltings in Nottinghamshire at the time of closure.
The original integrated brewery complex was built of light red brick with stone dressings beneath a slate roof covering. It comprised a long main range of three stories and attics aligned north-east to south west, with shorter five-storey crossings at each end. The main range was fourteen bays long and five bays wide, originally with pilasters defining the bay divisions. The brewery operations were carried out at the south-west end of the complex, and the maltings and malt kilns occupied the north-east end. The north elevation of the main range, with original window frames to the upper floor level, is the sole survivor as a result of later campaigns of alteration and remodelling. At the east end, only the lower parts of the original kiln survive to the north-east and south-west elevation, and the interior has been extensively remodelled. The original brewery section at the south-west end has been completely remodelled internally and its original floor structures removed. The barley stores were added to the north-west elevation in 1898, and remain as part of the present complex, but with a remodelled interior. The most extensive alterations to the complex took place in 1924 when the conversion to a conventional floor maltings took place. Much of the north-west elevation was demolished, and a new three storey structure built, with new floors carried on steel stanchions. The second and attic floors were rebuilt incorporating some original cast-iron columns. The malt kiln was enlarged by one bay, and the interiors of both the kiln range and the former brewhouse range at the south-west end were removed and remodelled. The last phase of major alteration in the late twentieth century saw the raising and remodelling of the kiln, the erection of a series of steel-sheeted extensions, and the addition of a bank of silos at the south-west end of the site. Much of the present interior of the maltings is comprised of open floor areas supported on metal columns and steel beams. The upper growing floor has a jack-arched ceiling.
The Beeston Maltings is one of a large number of late nineteenth century industrial buildings related to the brewing industry to survive in England, many of them of a distinctive architectural character. Industrial buildings can be representative of significant or ground-breaking technologies, and are often innovative structures, displaying new constructional or plan-form characteristics. Survivals of the early phases of development of notable industrial processes can be of national significance if the evidence of process can be clearly read in surviving historic fabric or fixed machinery. Where an industrial process is characterised by a series of related stages of production carried out in different buildings which together make up an industrial complex or manufactory on a single site, the assessment of special interest may need to take account of how well the ensemble survives as an entity. In instances where the industrial process is represented by a distinctive building type- a furnace, kiln, or engine house, for example, the survival of specific architectural characteristics which signal a building's function will be a significant factor in the assessment of special interest. The impact of adaptation and remodelling in response to economic or technological change can influence the assessment, depending upon the degree of loss or enhancement.
Breweries and maltings are distinctive building types, each designed for a series of processes. When combined in an integrated complex, as they often were, they form extensive industrial ensembles with different areas performing specialist functions. These are reflected in the architecture, interior spatial arrangement, and structural form of the buildings and in the machinery and fittings they contain.
The complex originally developed at Beeston was an integrated brewery, incorporating a state-of-the-art pneumatic maltings, the first its kind in England. It is not clear for how long this new method of malting continued in use, but a new barley store was added to the site within twenty years, indicating that malting of some kind was continuing. By 1924, after perhaps a period of intermittent activity, brewing ceased on site, together with pneumatic malting, and much of the original complex was demolished or remodelled to create a new, enlarged malting capability in the form of a 'traditional' floor maltings. This had new steeps (where the barley was soaked), storage bins, germinating floors, kiln and furnaces.
The report by Amber Patrick (3) confirms that Beeston was the first pneumatic maltings to be built in England and that it was the only survivor of the three known to have been built. The Patrick report states that 'quite how long pneumatic as opposed to mechanical malting continued in operation (at Beeston) is not known,' and further states that 'it is difficult to determine if any of the present malthouse's features can be attributed specifically to its pneumatic maltings phase'. It thus appears that there is little if any structural or fixed plant evidence of the pneumatic phase of operation of the now much-altered integrated brewery and maltings at Beeston. For industrial and commercial buildings changes must be expected, but successive phases of alteration have also resulted in the loss of most evidence of the original brewery component of the complex, the remodelling, enlargement and refitting of the malt kiln, and the replacement of the upper floors, roof structure and much of the original external walling of the original complex. What survives today is a hybrid maltings of mostly twentieth century date, and its associated entrance lodge, a much altered complex which lacks the degree of special architectural interest in a national context to justify a listing recommendation. (7)

The brewery was operated by Beeston Brewery Company which in 1881 was managed by Alexander Anderson. He was replaced by Samuel Theodore Bunning in 1883. In 1896 the brewery traded as New Beeston Brewery Company Limited but changed its name to Beeston Brewery Company Limited in the following year Bunning managed the company until it was taken over by James Shipstone and Sons Limited in 1922. Brewing ceased and building converted to a maltings, which finally closed in 2000. The building is intended to be coverted into residential use. (8-10)

Recent research has highlighted new documentary information relating to Shipstone’s conversion of the building in the mid 1920s, and an earlier extension of 1898. These documents show the layout and extent of the pneumatic plant within the Beeston Brewery’s malting and brewing buildings and this evidence enhances the historical interest of the complex. It also highlights the significant local interest. Nevertheless, internal photographs suggest that very little, if anything, survives of the pneumatic plant or the layout of the process, subsequent remodelling having resulted in the removal of these important elements.
The new information confirms the original intention of the complex as a pneumatic maltings and adds historical detail. The level of alteration to the buildings has however compromised the special architectural interest in a national context.
*The maltings complex was originally designed as an integrated brewery which included a maltings range. All evidence of the brewery range has now been lost.
*The original maltings range was designed to operate as a pneumatic maltings, a newly-patented system of maltings of which the Beeston site was the first example in England. Little if any evidence of the pneumatic phase of operation is believed to survive following successive phases of remodelling of the maltings.
* The present maltings is the result of the transformation of the integrated brewery into a new floor maltings in 1924. Much of the present structure, including the upper growing floors and the roof structure date to this late phase of development, which also saw the demolition of much of the original sites exterior walling.
*The most recent phase of development resulted in the remodelling and enlargement of the malt kiln area, and the loss of the most distinctive architectural feature of the malting range. (11)

Data Held: Ground Photograph (Ground photograph). SNT2646.

8 BW print, SMR

Linda Monkton and Pete Smith, 2009, Nottingham: the Creation of the City's Identity - Characterisation Report (Published document). SNT6269.

Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.

<1> Patrick A , undated, Pers Comm (Personal comment). SNT1129.

<2> OS, 1885, 1:2500, County Series 1885 (Map). SNT1013.

<3> Patrick A, 1977, Maltings in Nottinghamshire (Published document). SNT1130.

<4> Radford G, 19/01/1898, Maltings, Rylands Road (DC/BS 4/3 no.377) (Plan). SNT1638.

<5> Palmer M & Neaverson P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p 50 (Monograph). SNT5.

<5> Trent & Peak Archaeology, 2021, Report for Photographic Survey of Beeston Maltings Foreman's House and stable (Unpublished document). SNT5550.

<6> R. Sheppard & M. Hurford, 2013, A Photographic Survey of Beeston Maltings, Dovecote Lane, Beeston (Unpublished document). SNT5934.

<7> R. Hawkins, 2008, English Heritage Listing File - Beeston Maltings (Unpublished document). SNT6258.

<8> Lesley Richmond & Alison Turton, 1990, The Brewing History: A Guide to Historical Records, p. 64 (Published document). SNT6127.

<9> Lynn Anderson, 2010, Strategy for the Historic Industrial Environment: The Brewing Industry, p.39 (Published document). SNT6128.

<10> Peter Higginbotham, 2000, The Workhouse, Samuel Theodore Bunning and Beeston Brewery (Website). SNT6126.

<11> Designation Adviser, 2011, UDS Non-Designation case (Unpublished document). SNT6259.