Mitchells & Butlers Brewery
Brewery in Cape Hill, Smethwick, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mitchells & Butlers Brewery was formed when Henry Mitchell's old Crown Brewery[1] (founded in Smethwick in 1866, and in partnership with Herbert Glendilling Bainbridge, former partner in Young's and Bainbridge from 1888[2]) merged with William Butler's Brewery (also founded in Smethwick in 1866) in 1898.[3]
Mitchells
Henry Mitchell had moved to the Cape Hill site in 1879[1] and this became the company's main brewing site. It had its own railway network,[4] connected to the national railway system from 1907 to 1962, via the Harborne line.[4] The brewery also funded a football team, Birmingham St George's F.C., which was a member of the Football Alliance and won the Staffordshire Senior Cup twice, before disbanding in 1892.[5]
Butlers
Another brewery, opened by a completely different William Butler, in 1874, at Springfield in Wolverhampton, also became part of M&B in 1960. Brewing at this site ceased in 1990 and the site closed in 1991. It was badly damaged by fire in 2004. The site is now occupied by a campus of the University of Wolverhampton, with some original buildings, including the ornate entrance arch, retained.[6]
Other acquisitions included Holder's Brewers, who owned Birmingham's Midland Brewery, in 1919,[7] and the Highgate & Walsall Brewery in 1939.[8]
Merger with Bass
The company merged with Bass in 1961.[3] With the brand under ownership of Coors Brewers, the Cape Hill brewery closed in 2002 with production switched to Burton upon Trent.[9] The brewery was demolished in 2005,[4] and the site is now a housing estate, although the Mitchell & Butler war memorial, built in 1920, has been retained and restored.[10]
Their most famous beer was Brew XI (using Roman numerals, and so pronounced Brew Eleven), advertised with the slogan "for the men of the Midlands".[11] It is now brewed under licence for Coors by Brains of Cardiff.[11]
A descendant company, which manages pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom, is still known as Mitchells & Butlers, and is based in Birmingham.[12]
