It’s fun to look back.

This section is devoted to Inside Beer’s trip down Memory Lane, highlighting the major events that were shaping the brewing world 10, 20 and 30 years ago.

10 Years Ago

20 Years Ago

30 Years Ago

 

10 Years Ago
September 2000

Wolverhampton & Dudley faces a take-over threat from former Ushers boss Robert Breare.

The Firkin pub chain appears to have no future after Hugh Osmond, boss of parent company Punch Taverns, declares that the pubs need rebranding.

Japanese bank Nomura announces that it will buy the First Quench off-licence group – which includes Threshers, Victoria Wine, Bottoms Up and Wine Rack – for £225 million.

20 Years Ago
September 1990

Figures released by the Brewers’ Society reveal that sales of lager now account for 50% of the UK beer market.

Greenall Whitley announces the closure of two its breweries. Greenall’s site in Warrington, Cheshire, is to be axed, along with the former Shipstone’s Brewery in Nottingham.

The first beers for more than a year flow from Ipswich’s Tolly Cobbold brewery, following a change of ownership. So far Mild, Bitter and Original are available, with the winter ale, Old Strong, to follow.

 

30 Years Ago
September 1980

Whitbread-owned off-licence chain Thresher opens its first outlet within a department store, when it starts selling alcohol in Debenhams, Plymouth.

Ballard’s Brewery is officially opened by local MP Anthony Nelson. The brewery, set up on a farm near Rogate, Hampshire, by Mike Brown and his wife, Carola, produced its first beer, Ballard’s Best Bitter (OG 1042), in July. The brewery’s name is taken from Carola’s maiden name.

Major industrial action at Davenports in Birmingham is brought to an end. A five-week strike over pay had seen beer supplies dwindling in local pubs.

Chiltern Ale (OG 1036), the first beer from Chiltern Brewery, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, goes on sale.