Tetley bitter, the end of a little bit of history.

The 24^th of May 2011 was a sad day for any one who has ever had a drink of bitter.  The iconic and in fact I would go as far to say grate Tetley bitter was brewed for the last time in Leeds its home.  What will happen to the brewery now will only be known in the fullness of time?  Calls have been made that the site should be least to another brewer or to independent brewers to keep the tradition of brewing on the site.  But with the estimates of the site being £4 to £5 million per acre I do not think that that will happen.

The brewery was first founded in 1811 by Joshua Tetley in Leeds and by 1860 was one of the Largest breweries in the north of England. It bought its first pubs in 1890, in 1892 the company went public.  In 1960s Tetley was at the top of its game with 1000 tied houses in Yorkshire and 2000 across the country, the brewery employed over 1000 workers.  It had a high level of loyalty to its products, Particularly in West Yorkshire. But in 1998 Carlsberg who by then owned 50% stake in the business took over the business. 

I was first introduced to Tetley bitter by the son of a landlord who insisted that we should drive some twenty miles to go to a pub that had a “Autovac” beer pump system as any other way of serving the beer was not correct. Now those who do not know a “Autovac” pump has a drip try that is liked to the barrel in the cellar so any beer that is lost in the over flow is caught and recycled.  Now as long as you get a clean glass every time there is no problem with this, in fact it is a shame that it is not use more often in pubs today, but that is another story. The reason for the “Autovac” was that you could get a very aggregated head on the beer giving it a thick creamy head on the beer. And it was this that gave Tetley’s its distinct quality. A smooth bitter with a thick creamy head that was the pride of Leeds. In fact when I first moved to Yorkshire my local was a Tetley house that had a “Autovac” and many a fine pint I had in there as well.

I had been round the brewery on a couple of visits and it was obvious that a lot of pride was taken in that fact that is was a traditional local brew.  But the pressures of macro and micro economics the time has come and not the brewery is just a empty factory site that is silent.

Tetley’s will not disappear in fact it will still be brewed just not in Leeds at the place that it has been for so any years.  Smooth flow will be produced in Tadcaster still in Yorkshire but the rest will be done in Northampton and Wolverhampton.

What ever the reason good or bad the march of progress or just the fact that the site is worth more as a redevelopment rather than a brewery, that can be done in another part of the world, Or maybe the fact that the product was in decline compared to its hay day of the 60s and 70s. I will just like to note that a piece of brewing history has ended.

To a good pint with a thick creamy head, let us note the passing of the time that the beer was brewed in Leeds, the real home of Tetley Bitter.