Hardy & Hansons brewery
After finding what we thought we was the easy way into the site (it really wasn’t) we were thoroughly disappointed with our next discovery:
A cluster of brand new shiny white plastic contraptions, mounted 15 ft up the wall of the brewery, maybe 40 ft away. One was a PIR, next to a dome camera, next to a loud hailer. It was obvious if we tripped the PIR the camera would flick on in a warm office somewhere, and a polite voice would come over the loud hailer asking us to leave. We hatched a plan for a good 10 minutes, before setting off on the route that we thought would keep us out of the PIRs range. Ducking below walls, and hugging tight against the building we made it round the corner to discover...
...Three more sets of the same clusters along that face of the building! They had obviously spent some money on security equipment, but did they have any left to pay someone to monitor it? We had to assume they did, and carried on round the site looking for a way in while trying to avoid the cameras.
It took a while, but eventually our perseverance paid off and we were rewarded with a surprisingly easy way into the seemingly sealed building.
The Kimberley Brewery was established and operated by the brewer Hardys & Hansons, and has a heritage dating from 1832. It was the oldest independent brewery in Nottinghamshire
Samuel Robinson opened the first commercial brewery in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, England in a rented bake-house using water from the Alley Spring in what is now called Hardy Street.
Stephen Hanson meanwhile built Hansons Limited on Brewery Street in 1847, also using water from the Alley Spring, which we managed to find, still springing(?) in the basement.
*
William & Thomas Hardy were successful beer merchants from Heanor who bought Samuel Robinsons brewery in 1857. The current brewery is largely based on the buildings erected by them in 1861 when they moved out of the old bake-house. Also in 1861, Stephen Hanson died and the business was carried on by his wife Mary and son Robert Hanson.
Lol, love in this pic the cat / dog flap!
*
There was much friendly rivalry between the two brewing companies who proceeded to buy pubs throughout the area to supply with their own ales.
Both breweries began to run short of water. By agreement the water from the local Holly Well spring was shared between them. *Having been attracted by the supply of excellent brewing water from the Holly Well, both breweries thrived independently until 1930, when under increasing pressure from larger brewing companies and lack of male successors to the Hardy's Brewery, the two companies combined.
In 2006, The Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery and all of its public houses were sold in a multi-million pound deal to Greene King brewery, who decided to end the brewing tradition in Kimberley in "a cost effective move" and will sell the Kimberley site, moving its distribution centre to Eastwood. Brewing will switch to the main Greene King site at Bury St Edmunds.
A few walkthroughs are in the middle if this vid:
http://Www.YouTu.be/uS94tMn3Bfw
Cheers for looking.
After finding what we thought we was the easy way into the site (it really wasn’t) we were thoroughly disappointed with our next discovery:
A cluster of brand new shiny white plastic contraptions, mounted 15 ft up the wall of the brewery, maybe 40 ft away. One was a PIR, next to a dome camera, next to a loud hailer. It was obvious if we tripped the PIR the camera would flick on in a warm office somewhere, and a polite voice would come over the loud hailer asking us to leave. We hatched a plan for a good 10 minutes, before setting off on the route that we thought would keep us out of the PIRs range. Ducking below walls, and hugging tight against the building we made it round the corner to discover...
...Three more sets of the same clusters along that face of the building! They had obviously spent some money on security equipment, but did they have any left to pay someone to monitor it? We had to assume they did, and carried on round the site looking for a way in while trying to avoid the cameras.
It took a while, but eventually our perseverance paid off and we were rewarded with a surprisingly easy way into the seemingly sealed building.
The Kimberley Brewery was established and operated by the brewer Hardys & Hansons, and has a heritage dating from 1832. It was the oldest independent brewery in Nottinghamshire
Samuel Robinson opened the first commercial brewery in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, England in a rented bake-house using water from the Alley Spring in what is now called Hardy Street.
Stephen Hanson meanwhile built Hansons Limited on Brewery Street in 1847, also using water from the Alley Spring, which we managed to find, still springing(?) in the basement.
*
William & Thomas Hardy were successful beer merchants from Heanor who bought Samuel Robinsons brewery in 1857. The current brewery is largely based on the buildings erected by them in 1861 when they moved out of the old bake-house. Also in 1861, Stephen Hanson died and the business was carried on by his wife Mary and son Robert Hanson.
Lol, love in this pic the cat / dog flap!
*
There was much friendly rivalry between the two brewing companies who proceeded to buy pubs throughout the area to supply with their own ales.
Both breweries began to run short of water. By agreement the water from the local Holly Well spring was shared between them. *Having been attracted by the supply of excellent brewing water from the Holly Well, both breweries thrived independently until 1930, when under increasing pressure from larger brewing companies and lack of male successors to the Hardy's Brewery, the two companies combined.
In 2006, The Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery and all of its public houses were sold in a multi-million pound deal to Greene King brewery, who decided to end the brewing tradition in Kimberley in "a cost effective move" and will sell the Kimberley site, moving its distribution centre to Eastwood. Brewing will switch to the main Greene King site at Bury St Edmunds.
A few walkthroughs are in the middle if this vid:
http://Www.YouTu.be/uS94tMn3Bfw
Cheers for looking.
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