# Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery, Notts. August 2010



## ThenewMendoza (Aug 5, 2010)

Visited with SparkUK and Sal.

We'd been in the area checking out a potential lead and this place was only a couple of motorway junctions away, it's been on the list for a long while now and it was finally nice to actually get in. 

History from Wikipedia - _The Kimberley Brewery was established and operated by the brewer Hardys & Hansons, and has a heritage dating from 1832. It was the last 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.

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. 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._

Pics 



































































M


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## johno23 (Aug 5, 2010)

Nice work folks,Some great shots there,very atmospheric looking place


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## ItsMeJustG (Aug 6, 2010)

*Great shots.....*

Brilliant images.
This site is about 30 mins from me. How easy is access?


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## ThenewMendoza (Aug 6, 2010)

ItsMeJustG said:


> How easy is access?



You won't know if you don't go take a look. 

M


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## godzilla73 (Aug 6, 2010)

Aaah, happy days. When I was a student H&H Kimberley Best was a snip at 95p a pint . Not bad drinkin' either. Thanks for the pics guys....
GDZ


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## klempner69 (Aug 6, 2010)

Love these, particularly the fan in the ceiling shot.


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## Foxylady (Aug 6, 2010)

Lovely old brewery. Nice and woody, bricky and mill-like. Great atmospheric pics.


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## Kaputnik (Aug 6, 2010)

Some cracking pics of the place, on an unsuccesful visit here with 85vintage a while back, we got talking to an old guy who lives in one of the row of former brewery workers cottages, about the place, which is almost like a small village it covers such an area, he told us that when he moved there in the '60's he was the first person on the street who wasn't employed by the brewery, and felt like a bit of an outsider.
there are lots of inaccesible parts of the complex, including office areas still in use by greene king, the current owners, other beer brands now owned and controlled by the firm have lost most of the original taste and unique flavour of their past years, as i suppose is bound to happen when they are brewed miles away, with different water than the original firm used, however much they try to keep to the same formula, apparently shortly after the site was bought by greene king and ceased as a brewery, a 'last tour' that was planned for interested locals and former workers was cancelled at the last minute, which didn't go down too well. from the calendars, and writing on notice boards by staff, and decorations and cards left in an office, it seems the place closed at christmas time, which is something that i've seen evidence of in a few other derelict former workplaces, and adds a bit of a sad edge to an explore site, as it reminds you that people were facing an uncertain future when the place closed.
some pics of mine from a lone visit in mar 09
















The wonderful malt mill.....





maker's plate with date....















Did you get up to the top of the tower, Mendo? i opened the hatch, but as it was daylight and in full view of nearby houses, didn't stick my head out too far!


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## ItsMeJustG (Aug 6, 2010)

*Doh!*

Ok. Point taken on the access. 
I'm taking september out to roll around the country taking some dereliction shots. Just getting to grips with this site so am hoping to find a few places to go.


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## ThenewMendoza (Aug 7, 2010)

Kaputnik said:


> Did you get up to the top of the tower, Mendo?



Nah, we completely forgot about it until we were back outside. 

Cheers folks.

M


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## Mr Sam (Aug 8, 2010)

top sploorin got here yesterday soo much to see tower is well worth the climb


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