Highgate Brewery: mild protest won't suffice

Tragedy befell the brewing industry last week with the news that the Highgate Brewery in Walsall had closed.

The West Midlands firm has had a long and chequered history, hanging on against seemingly impossible odds for many years. But the gates have slammed shut, 25 workers have lost their jobs and we are all the poorer as a fascinating piece of brewing history disappears.

Highgate was special because for most of its existence it brewed only dark beer — mild in particular. It opened in 1898, a red-brick Victorian complex, designed along the "tower" principle, with the brewing process flowing from floor to floor without the need for pumps.

Its purpose was to produce beer for workers in the local leather industry. There must have been a large number of leather-workers, as the brewery had an annual capacity of 100,000 barrels. Most of those jobs have long gone but the industry is commemorated by the nickname of the local football team, the Saddlers.

The staple beer at Highgate was Dark Mild. In the winter months, this was supplemented by a stronger version known as Highgate Old. These were sweetish, malty brews, ideal for leather-workers who needed to slake prodigious thirsts after long shifts in local factories.

The brewery was built at the top of a steep street of elegant houses, Sandymount Road. This may seem an incongruous place to site a brewery — and may have contributed to its downfall — but the supply of pure brewing water, rich in iron, from a bore hole at the top of the road explains the choice of venue.

Highgate remained independent until 1938, when it was taken over by the giant Birmingham brewery of Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). Its main product was also mild ale and it planned to close Highgate and kill the competition. But Highgate was saved by a slice of luck known as World War Two.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill — who was not averse to a drop of liquor himself — was determined that workers at home and in the services should not face the hardships of the First World War, when beer was strictly rationed and reduced in strength. All breweries were guaranteed supplies of malt and hops by Churchill and M&B decided to keep Highgate open in order to continue to draw its share of vital raw ingredients.

In the post-war world, M&B became part of the mighty Bass group. Bass kept Highgate open as proof of its commitment to local beer styles and breweries. But as Bass's interest in brewing waned in the 1990s, it eventually sold Highgate to its management, led by marketing manager Steve Nuttall and head brewer Neil Bain.

They raised sufficient money to invest in a few pubs in order to have shop windows for their beers. To meet the demands of modern drinkers, they also added some paler beers, including a Saddlers Bitter, but they remained true to Highgate Dark Mild and Old.

In operation​

I visited Highgate several times during the period of management buy-out and was entranced by the architectural beauty of the site. Mashing took place in two ancient tuns, originally built of wood but re-lined with stainless steel. Hand-raised wooden lids were left in place. The hop boil took place in two burnished coppers with internal heating columns topped by funnels known as Chinese hats.

The light and airy fermenting room was packed with a variety of round and square wood-jacketed vessels. Head brewer Neil Bain told me his yeast culture was "a beast". Most modern breweries prefer to use a simple, single-strain culture, but Highgate's was four-strain, each strain working at different times to help turn malt sugars into alcohol.

For a beer with a modest strength of 3.4%, High Dark Mild had a complex recipe comprised of pale, black and crystal malts, with maltose syrup and caramel for additional colour and flavour. The hops were England's two great traditional varieties, Fuggles and Goldings.

Beer volumes had declined so dramatically towards the end of the Bass reign that Nuttall and Bain struggled to build sales and shoulder the burden of a chain of nine pubs. In 2000 they succumbed and sold Highgate to the Aston Manor brewery, which specialises in canned beers and ciders.

It was a bad fit for a brewery famous for cask beer and in 2007 ownership of the brewery moved on to the Global Star pub group.

Global Star was saddled — if you'll pardon the ghoulish pun — with a tax and excise debt of £1m. A year later, the group sold Highgate for a knock-down price of £80,000 to two property developers, Simon Toon and David Dindol. The writing was on the brewery wall. Highgate is a Grade II-listed building but that doesn't prevent the site being turned into houses and flats.

There's a campaign in the area to save the brewery. I wish the campaigners well but with a capacity of 100,000 barrels, Highgate is likely to be too big for craft brewers to contemplate. At the very least, I hope the magnificent brewing vessels can be saved and maintained.

If the brewery, its kit and its history all disappear, it will be a dark day for Walsall and the West Midlands.