Hardy & Hansons Last Brew

At 6.30 am on Monday 11th December 2006, Alan Trowman, watched by the entire brewing staff, commenced the final mashing at the 174 year old brewery.

The last beer to be brewed at the historic brewery was Kimberley Bitter.

Once the process had commenced Martin Armstrong, Head Brewer, presented each member of the Brewing staff with a special commemorative glass to record the final brew and he joined Jonathan Webster, Managing Director, in thanking the staff for their years of service and professionalism.

The staff are seen raising their glasses and bidding farewell to Kimberley brewed ales.

Last orders

What has happened has come as no surprise to regulars at pubs in Nottingham, where Greene King took over the 170-year-old Hardys and Hansons Kimberley brewery in June last year, plus 268 pubs, including the medieval Olde Trip to Jerusalem, built into the bottom of Nottingham's Castle Rock. Within months it had closed the brewery, made 80 workers redundant, and moved production to Bury St Edmunds, despite a petition signed by thousands.

Camra's Nottingham branch has complained to the city's trading standards department. " It is still selling 'Kimberley' ale in Nottingham pubs, with a picture of the old brewery on the pump," says local spokesman Andrew Ludlow. "How can it be the same product if it is brewed elsewhere with different ingredients? Someone going into a pub in Nottingham may have a choice of Ruddles, Kimberley, Old Speckled Hen and Greene King IPA. But they are all brewed at the same giant plant in Suffolk." He points to the folly, at a time of worry about carbon emissions, of closing local breweries and trucking in faux "local" ales from hundreds of "beer miles" away

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Hardys and Hansons History

Hardys brewery was formed in 1832 and Hansons was formed in 1847, both brewers merged in 1930 to become Hardys & Hansons brewery.

The local Civic Society have leant their support to the campaign to save the Hardys and Hansons' brewery and hope that any future developments to the site will respect the heritage of the area. Their email address is www.gdcs.org.uk