Home Brewery (1)

The Home Brewery was founded in 1880. (2)

In 1875 … John Robinson … set up a combined maltings and brewery. Work on a large, steam-powered brewery was begun on the Daybrook site in 1880. (3)

The brewery was founded in 1875 by John Robinson and from 1890 operated as Home Brewery Company Limited. An almost complete reconstruction of the brewery, including a new office building, was planned to take place in 1938. The architect was Thomas Cecil Howitt and construction started in 1938 but because of the war, the central tower of the office block was not completed until the early 1950s.
The office building is steel framed with brick cladding and ashlar dressings. The main west front has a central, large ashlar-faced, square arched lorry entrance, which has ornate iron gates with gilded lettering. Over the arch in raised lettering is the inscription "HOME BREWERY COMPANY LIMITED". The square tower, is slightly battered with pairs of stripped pilaster buttresses on each face with a small pantile hood, above a tall brick parapet with ashlar coping. The side faces have raised lettering "HOME OF THE BEST ALES". On either side is a 12 bay flanking 2 storey office wing which have 24 cast iron relief panels by the Nottingham architectural sculptor Charles Doman (1884-1944). They run in series between the ground and first floor windows, and were made by the Lion Foundry at Kirkintilloch. Three designs, depicting various aspects of the brewing process, are repeated, and are currently painted white on pale blue ground.
The brewery was acquired by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries in July 1986 and the brewery closed ten years later. Much of the site has been redeveloped as a supermarket, but the brewery office building is extant and in use as council offices. (4-7)

Manufacturer: Lion Foundry Kirkintillock, 1938-1938. Owner: Home Brewery Company Limited, 1890-1986. Owner: Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, 1986-1996. (8)

Demolished 1998.

See M10582 for surviving office building.
Grid ref centred.

<1> OS, 1914, 1:2500, County Series 1914 (Map). SNT1023.

Other Refs: 38/11

<2> Palmer M & Neaverson P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p 136 (Monograph). SNT5.

<3> Home Brewery Co., 1990, Home Brewery, 1875-1990 (Published document). SNT1618.

<4> Peter Higginbotham, 2000, The Workhouse, Nottinghamshire - Daybrook, Mansfield Road: Home Brewery Co Ltd (closed 1996) (Website). SNT6126.

<5> Peter Higginbotham, 2000, The Workhouse, Arnold, Nottinhamshire, Home Brewery (Website). SNT6126.

<6> Lynn Anderson, 2010, Strategy for the Historic Industrial Environment: The Brewing Industry, p.38 (Published document). SNT6128.

<7> Gedling District Authority, 1993, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Unpublished document). SNT6303.

<8> Historic England, 2021, National Record of Historic Environment (Digital archive). SNT5271.