Courage Brewery

vmlopes · Jul 21, 2010

Done this a few months back.

So a little history:

Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horselydown, Bermondsey in 1787. It became Courage & Donaldson in 1797. By 1888, it had been registered simply as 'Courage'. In 1955, the company merged with Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd (who were located at the nearby Anchor Brewery) to become Courage, Barclay & Co Ltd. Only five years later, another merger with the Reading based Simonds' Brewery led to the name changing to Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd. This was simplified to Courage Ltd in October 1970 and the company was taken over by the Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd two years later.

Their vast Worton Grange (now Berkshire) Brewery was opened on the Reading/Shinfield border in 1978. The Anchor Brewery closed in 1981 and all brewing was transferred there. Imperial Tobacco was acquired by the Hanson Trust in 1986 and they sold off Courage to Elders IXL who were renamed the Foster's Brewing Group in 1990.

Back on 12 February 2008, Scottish & Newcastle announced its intention to close its Berkshire Brewery Operations by early 2010. This left the 362 employees working at the brewery with an uncertain future.

It closes its doors for the last time on 2 April 2010.

Pics...

#1

#2

#3

#4
960 cans per pallet, and there was another warehouse identical to this you do the maths....

#5
Sun coming up in the Brewhouse

#6
Some of the Brewhous' Lauter Tuns

#7

#8

#9
Control Room porn

D-Kay · Jul 21, 2010

Nice one Victor, was a great day out mate..

night crawler · Jul 21, 2010

I've seen these before, oh I know Flickr. Very evious of your visit there.

hydealfred · Jul 22, 2010

Blimey that control room looks like what you would find in a power station :exclaim:

If I was to get into that room with all the beer I dont think you would ever get me out again.

Landie_Man · Jul 23, 2010

i was here recently. GAH. Had too little time, missed so much!

GE066 · Aug 16, 2010

night crawler said:
I've seen these before, oh I know Flickr. Very evious of your visit there.

Really? When I search the web & Flickr, only one selfish attention seeking person has posted this place in public on numerous forums of the many people who've been there. I just hope it doesn't lead to it being shut down/security increasing, or the many thieves who view these websites removing the booze. :sad: It currently looks a really great explore.

mc_nebula · Aug 17, 2010

Oh, joy. More dark, gash HDR's. FFS, learn to use a camera properly. Also, Courage? On public forums? Really?

Lockdown, vandalism and theivery, here we come!

Winchester · Aug 17, 2010

I feel that Courage should not be posted on a public forum. Let people enjoy it before it inevitably gets vandalised by some kids seeing this, and subsequently locked down. This stuff does happen.

GE066 · Aug 17, 2010

I have to say I actually like most of Vic's pics, i just disprove of his billboard policy of plastering stuff on every known forum in the universe, although I think he missed UER and the flickr groups. I was with a well known explorer last night who wants to do this place, and was pissed it was in public everywhere. Sad.

Workers are stripping this place now sadly, and based on previous and recent trip conversations, there are things to get alarmed about there now, if you catch my drift

So one to drop everything for now.

Winchester · Aug 17, 2010

bukowski_jr said:
I have to say I actually like most of Vic's pics, i just disprove of his billboard policy of plastering stuff on every known forum in the universe, although I think he missed UER and the flickr groups. I was with a well known explorer last night who wants to do this place, and was pissed it was in public everywhere. Sad.

Workers are stripping this place now sadly, and based on previous and recent trip conversations, there are things to get alarmed about there now, if you catch my drift So one to drop everything for now.

To be fair, it's been shut for 4 months now - you've got to be on the ball.

GE066 · Aug 17, 2010

Indeed, I went last weekend and had a great 6hrs there, did everything pretty much. I wasn't particularly interested when i first heard about it, but a mate nudged me enough to go, and i'm glad i did. It's really interesting to see how it all works, even if it is mostly Fosters and Strongbow, urghh.

Foxylady · Aug 17, 2010

bukowski_jr said:
I have to say I actually like most of Vic's pics, i just disprove of his billboard policy of plastering stuff on every known forum in the universe, although I think he missed UER and the flickr groups. I was with a well known explorer last night who wants to do this place, and was pissed it was in public everywhere. Sad.

Workers are stripping this place now sadly, and based on previous and recent trip conversations, there are things to get alarmed about there now, if you catch my drift So one to drop everything for now.

So, if the place is being stripped, and soon there'll be nothing much for anyone to look at anyway...then what's your problem with it being shown on a public forum? Also, does public forums include a certain fruity little club that thinks it has more rights than anyone else? And why is this 'well-known' explorer so pissed off. Is it because he didn't get his report out first?

Sorry for the acidity, bukowski, and I'm not getting at you personally, but these sort of comments really piss me off! There's no logic to them.

Love the pics, btw, vm. :mrgreen:

GE066 · Aug 17, 2010

Foxylady said:
So, if the place is being stripped, and soon there'll be nothing much for anyone to look at anyway...then what's your problem with it being shown on a public forum? Also, does public forums include a certain fruity little club that thinks it has more rights than anyone else? And why is this 'well-known' explorer so pissed off. Is it because he didn't get his report out first?

Sorry for the acidity, bukowski, and I'm not getting at you personally, but these sort of comments really piss me off! There's no logic to them.

Love the pics, btw, vm.

Places filter down through people. I wasn't the first to know about this place, it came second hand as with the OP. As it will for most people. This is a forum for talking about derelict places no? This place isn't really derelict, it's in transition. At the moment it's a really interesting explore, but flashing it up on at least three different forums, is blatant attention seeking, surely you must agree on that?

The explorer who hasn't done it is most definitely not the type of person to put a report out first, and you'll have to take my word they've done some seriously cool stuff that people on here would gobble up. They haven't had a chance to get to Reading as they live hundreds of miles away and have a family and job. Would it really hurt to keep a place quiet and just word of mouth until a place is fully stripped and dull? Why the rush to put a place in public view? Everyone who explores knows someone, who knows someone etc. So it's not likely to take long to filter around. If you're an armchair explorer who just like seeing the pics, you're not going to lose anything by seeing something you didn't know about a while later.

I don't think we're going to get very far if you fail to see the logic in keeping places out of the public eye until such time as they're no longer accessible. Everyone has different takes on this activity, that's human nature. When you refer to fruity little clubs (?) that have different rights to others, do you include the right of someone to post a place others haven't done yet? To put it hypothetically, assume someone you knew' did some research and found that in the back of a company lot there was a damaged door that could be moved aside to find a WWII bunker still with bed frames and desks in (ie something that would be cool to see). The company has security personnel, but are not aware people are getting in. A week later you visited the place the person who found it hadn't posted about and kept it private/word of mouth. At what point would you post it on here?

I'm not trying to be cocky or funny with the above query, i'm genuinely interested in your thoughts.

mcspringzy · Aug 17, 2010

bukowski_jr said:
Places filter down through people. I wasn't the first to know about this place, it came second hand as with the OP. As it will for most people. This is a forum for talking about derelict places no? This place isn't really derelict, it's in transition. At the moment it's a really interesting explore, but flashing it up on at least three different forums, is blatant attention seeking, surely you must agree on that?

The explorer who hasn't done it is most definitely not the type of person to put a report out first, and you'll have to take my word they've done some seriously cool stuff that people on here would gobble up. They haven't had a chance to get to Reading as they live hundreds of miles away and have a family and job. Would it really hurt to keep a place quiet and just word of mouth until a place is fully stripped and dull? Why the rush to put a place in public view? Everyone who explores knows someone, who knows someone etc. So it's not likely to take long to filter around. If you're an armchair explorer who just like seeing the pics, you're not going to lose anything by seeing something you didn't know about a while later.

I don't think we're going to get very far if you fail to see the logic in keeping places out of the public eye until such time as they're no longer accessible. Everyone has different takes on this activity, that's human nature. When you refer to fruity little clubs (?) that have different rights to others, do you include the right of someone to post a place others haven't done yet? To put it hypothetically, assume someone you knew' did some research and found that in the back of a company lot there was a damaged door that could be moved aside to find a WWII bunker still with bed frames and desks in (ie something that would be cool to see). The company has security personnel, but are not aware people are getting in. A week later you visited the place the person who found it hadn't posted about and kept it private/word of mouth. At what point would you post it on here?

I'm not trying to be cocky or funny with the above query, i'm genuinely interested in your thoughts.

Although im always very reluctant to join in forum debates, you need to look at the wider picture here. We all love a gem but in reality since UE becoming so big on the internet these gems dont last long. But its not always the internet to blame, remember there are other people in the world that have different intentions to us, and it doesnt matter how unbelieveable we think their actions are, whether it be to vandalise or steal, if you 'switch on enough' to realised this place is closing/uninhabited/derelict, so will they. It's always been the same and nothing will ever change whether you post it on the internet or not.

GE066 · Aug 17, 2010

mcspringzy said:
Although im always very reluctant to join in forum debates, you need to look at the wider picture here. We all love a gem but in reality since UE becoming so big on the internet these gems dont last long. But its not always the internet to blame, remember there are other people in the world that have different intentions to us, and it doesnt matter how unbelieveable we think their actions are, whether it be to vandalise or steal, if you 'switch on enough' to realised this place is closing/uninhabited/derelict, so will they. It's always been the same and nothing will ever change whether you post it on the internet or not.

And where do you think these people get their information from? I've bumped into metal thieves numerous times, and the ones that weren't east european sounding have mentioned that they found wherever we'd had an uneasy meeting (Ilford Baths being a recent one) via a forum site, mostly 28DL, where bizarrely this site is being kept in the members section. When i was unfortunately caught by security at Pyestock, the guard at the gate asked if i was on 28DL or here. There's a story that some east europeans are stripping pyestock of metals, and that another explorer keeps nicking their stash. How would they know about pyestock (surrounded by trees) or Fleet, it's a small town that's not somewhere you'd expect east european metal thieves to turn up. If you're a thief or graffiti artists or Security Firms or even lower, a press journalist looking for a story (remember the kids who went up the still being built Ilford towers and posted pics, and then the press went nuts about it, and security was doubled and access methods seriously hampered.) then forum sites are a boom, closely followed by flickr and personal sites.

Like I said, everyone has different views, i'm just saying that i think people should consider what happens when they're the first person to put up pictures of somewhere that can still be accessed. I made the mistake of putting up a place i did first, and got a load of grief as suddenly a few people showed interest (it wasn't that exciting i thought, and a week after I put it in public, dome cams appeared all over the site). So I rarely put stuff up anymore because I don't want to get a reputation for places leading to get closed down. If i do post, it's usually in a members section of a website. I know urbex willy waving get's frowned on here, so I don't post non-derelict stuff. And things like getting on the roof of the French Embassy for example aren't that exciting for the dear reader. I was hoping for some nice views of Hyde Park, and just got a wall of trees. damn nature.

Sgt. Pepper · Aug 18, 2010

bukowski_jr said:
Like I said, everyone has different views, i'm just saying that i think people should consider what happens when they're the first person to put up pictures of somewhere that can still be accessed. I made the mistake of putting up a place i did first, and got a load of grief as suddenly a few people showed interest (it wasn't that exciting i thought, and a week after I put it in public, dome cams appeared all over the site).

I too made this mistake when I first started out, I was the first person to do a particular site, and stupidly posted it in the public section of a forum rather than the private section. I thought I was doing the site a favour, as it was being stripped and I thought 'better get it out there so people can see it before it goes'. When it reality, all that happened was that within a day of my report going up, the access was no longer there, and security was beefed up. Because of that, 2 people who I used to explore with cut all links. At the time I was gutted, but I totally understand it now.

I suppose what I'm saying is that rather than attention seeking, in my case I just wanted as many people to see it before it was demolished (like I said, demo work was happening at the time), without thinking of it from the flip side of posting a report might, if anything, limit peoples chances of seeing it.

Learned my lesson, it has to be said

GE066 · Aug 18, 2010

Indeed. It's not something that will ever be resolved, but if people find somewhere new, they will know who to share and who not to share it with. People who blast a place all over the web to seek as much self publicity as possible should be avoided. But that's my take. If people are after the 'who did it first' title, most people will know anyway. The main thing is not to be selfish and to share amongst your peers in a way that leaves the place open. The same should go to how people behave at various sites and not give them away, like the idiots who drew huge ketchup penises at Birmingham Midland Bank. While amusing, it makes it clear 'we've' been there.

I think word of mouth is a better way personally, because like Kevin Bacon, there are a few degrees of separation between us all. We all know someone who knows someone etc.

Foxylady · Aug 18, 2010

bukowski_jr said:
... i'm genuinely interested in your thoughts.

I've been thinking about this and I'll be honest, I don't have any firm answers to your questions. It really does depend on the situation, and each one has to be taken on it's own merit. It's not something I come across on a personal basis either, as I'm very much out on a limb due to where I live, my own circumstances and exploring situation, although I have occasionally held info back in order to protect a site. Not an easy thing to answer, and something that can't and shouldn't be 'policed' by the UE community, imo, as it surely is up to the individual.

However, I do understand your reasoning behind your comments now. As I said, I wasn't getting at you personally, and I'm sorry that my own comments were a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. lol. Cheers for your reply, bukowski.

GE066 · Aug 18, 2010

Foxylady said:
I've been thinking about this and I'll be honest, I don't have any firm answers to your questions. It really does depend on the situation, and each one has to be taken on it's own merit. It's not something I come across on a personal basis either, as I'm very much out on a limb due to where I live, my own circumstances and exploring situation, although I have occasionally held info back in order to protect a site. Not an easy thing to answer, and something that can't and shouldn't be 'policed' by the UE community, imo, as it surely is up to the individual.

However, I do understand your reasoning behind your comments now. As I said, I wasn't getting at you personally, and I'm sorry that my own comments were a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. lol. Cheers for your reply, bukowski.

Cheers for your honesty FL, i never thought it was personal. There really is no answer, I just feel it's a shame to expedite a place getting shut down or raided due to a bit of self publicity seeking on public forums. It will only take one teenager in the Berkshire area to see pics of a warehouse of booze people have been getting into, flash to friends on twatter or filthbook, and they'll descend in their droves and the place will be ruined.

vmlopes · Aug 31, 2010

Ok so to put my side of the story on this............as you can see from the OP I had done this a few months before posting on here and another site, none of my shots are tagged on flickr............and it was only after seeing other shots on flickr and other sites that I posted on here........there end of story

Courage Brewery

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