No mate, Castle Eden brewery shut years ago. Crown ale I remember though, it was out in 1977 for the Queens jubilee. That was responsible for me falling in the river at Durham whilst trying to be a clever sod and standing up in a rowing boat.
It was for a while but is now brewed iin the outskirts of Sunderland at East Rainton..It was not the same drink when they moved to Sheffield, but is now back to its glorious best.
Must admit I thought that once the 29 was mentioned. Your not that transvestite who used to get in on a Sunday night are you?
Big Big Julie was one of the Exotic dancers who did the club circuits and I for a better word was probably her only groupie.
So right I had a holiday job in wines and spirits warehouse and in beer keg area - the pride amongst the workers in the place was so high and they took so much pride with the dray horses and stables. A friend worked In the Vaux Estates who said they had done a deal with Wards Brewery in Sheffield to take them over just before Vaux demise. Why the council did not provide financial support for their biggest employer when they were having a financial problems and managerial change is a mystery - ideas anyone ?
You don't have to be in Sunderland - you can buy Double Maxim directly from the brewery or at selected super markets. On special offer atm £1 a bottle ... https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/getSearchProducts.do?clearTabs=yes&isFreshSearch=true&chosenSuggestionPosition=&entry=double maxim
If I recall correctly the Sunderland Vaux Brewery was a profitable concern at the point the 'owning' company decided to close it. There was an attempt at a management buy out at the time, headed by Mr Nicholson ( The MD at the time and can't remember his first name ) but Vaux declined the offer. The Council at that time did not have the money to buy the land so it ended up in the hands of Tesco, who wouldn't release it from their land bank until recently when they were given access to the land where the Mayfair used to be and they have built a supermarket there. Hopefully, we'll see the first building going up on the Vaux site very soon. I believe planning permission has been granted to the JV Siglion ( who have done the first round of works to renovate the sea front at Seaburn).
thanks MITM I believe the the Nicholson involved was the son of the deceased older Mr Nicholson and he was not too business savvy - but this does not Brilliant - I've just found a bit more on wikipedia for any interested: But definately need some quality development due to its iconic position as its gone from an arguably listed magnificent building to an embarrasing eyesore in 30yrs - disgraceful : Apparently Paul Nicholson had the business nous not his brother Frank who was just not business savvy. Anyway see below : Chairman lifts lid on deal which closed Vaux Inside Out, BBC ONE (North East & Cumbria), Monday 9 June, 7.30pm Former Vaux chairman Sir Paul Nicholson tonight lifts the lid on the boardroom decisions which closed the Sunderland brewery in BBC ONE's Inside Out programme for the North East and Cumbria. Sir Paul, whose family ran Vaux, says the brewery which had existed on Wearside for 162 years should never have closed. His tells Inside Out: "They were desperate to try to justify the unjustifiable. It was a feeble decision to cow-tow to their City gods." More than 600 jobs were lost when the Swallow Group closed the Vaux Brewery in 1999, but Sir Paul claims that the closure did not bring in the cash the board had expected. "It should never have happened," says Sir Paul. "There should still be a brewery here and there could have been a brewery here employing hundreds of people and contributing to the economic life of Sunderland." In 1998, the board thought it could make more profit by closing the brewery and selling off its pubs. Sir Paul says: "I told them that their numbers were wrong, but they chose to ignore me." A management buy-out, headed by Sir Paul's brother Frank, offered £70 million to buy the brewery and some of the pubs. But it was rejected when the board was later told it could receive £15 million more than the management buy-out bid if it went ahead with the asset strip. Sir Paul resigned as company chairman in March 1999 when the board made its decision to close Vaux. He says: "They said that by closing the brewery they were going to be £15 million better off. "The big shareholders put pressure on such pressure that they thought it was much easier to close the brewery rather than face the wrath of the big shareholders." He claims the closure of Vaux probably made two to three million pounds less than the board would have received from the management buy-out. He says costs were higher and sales prices lower than expected, probably because the pension deal cost millions more than planned and the pension fund did not have a big enough surplus. Peter Catesby, the chief executive who steered Vaux through its break-up, tells Inside Out: "Regrettably, we had been buying trade through giving loans to people with insufficient security for the loan. "Very often these were loans called in by other breweries." However, Sir Paul says that many pubs did not repay loans they owed to the brewery. He says: "Those loans were good and they would have been good if it had been an on-going business. "But when you wind up a business and it's no longer a going concern, no-one is going to try and pay you back." Mr Catesby also says the packages offered to Vaux employees were the best ever offered by a North East company. "They were a very reasonable reward for the hard-working people who had been very loyal to Vaux for a long time," says Mr Catesby. "I was not going to be in a position where I had to face someone like you and say why our package of redundancy was not as good as, say, Scottish and Newcastle." But Sir Paul responds: "How very generous of them. I am sure that people involved would have much rather kept their jobs." Sir Paul still believes the best option would have been for the board to accept the management offer and then sell off the pubs at a later date so helping the investors get more money and keeping hundreds of jobs and a century-old tradition of brewing alive in Sunderland. "As soon as I relaxed my grip on the company, it did not last very long," adds Sir Paul, whose memoirs are published this week. "My biggest mistake was not to get my succession right."
Was it not the case that the council were not allowed to buy it? Forgotten why but possibly couldnt guarantee the taxpayers a good deal after the purchase so chose not to pursue it.
The closure of Vaux was avoidable, the power was in the wrong hands, no question about it, sadly those hands were not Frank Nicholsons, otherwise the brewery would still be there.
