Thwaites Brewery - History - Shire Horses

Shire Horses

The sound that was continuously heard in Blackburn throughout the 19th Century was the clattering of horses hooves along the cobbled streets. The majority of these were work horses. Stable lads would lead the Thwaites horses out of the stables in Syke Street, across the road (until the end of the 19th century when the stables moved to the brewery site) and into the brewery yard where they waited patiently for their carts and drays to be loaded with the day’s deliveries. These ‘gentle giants’ were to become a familiar sight in Blackburn for many years. In the 1920s however, most breweries decided to put their shire horses ‘out to grass’ and switch to motor transport. In 1927, the last of the Thwaites shire horses were led out of the brewery for the last time.

By the 1950s the shire horse had practically ceased to exist. But in 1957 an enterprising young manager called David Kay of Thwaites’ soft drinks department wanted to bring the Shire dray horses back. Two years later, in 1959, he got his wish and was allowed to introduce two dray horses to the brewery’s local route. He was convinced that the dray horses would not only attract good publicity for Thwaites but would be financially advantageous against the backdrop of rising fuel costs. On May Day in 1960 the first two shire horses were led out of the smart new Thwaites stables. The return of horse transport was a great success and the people of Blackburn soon grew used to sharing the magnificent brewery horses with the rest of the country.

2010 marked fifty years of the reintroduction of horse-drawn deliveries after they ended in the 1920s. Over the years, the fame of the Shires has spread throughout the country, embodying the traditional values integral to Daniel Thwaites’ heritage. To celebrate the anniversary, a commemorative sculpture featuring three of the multi-award-winning Shire horses in a unicorn configuration was commissioned.

The Daniel Thwaites stables have enjoyed great success over the last 50 years. In a nine-year period, the Shires have won the world renowned National Championship seven times, which is the ultimate achievement and recognition for a Shire horse and its team.

Further success has been enjoyed at The Royal Show which the Shires have won five times in the pairs. They won the pairs, singles and team events at the Great Yorkshire Show and have enjoyed further wins at every major county show throughout the UK. The stables team includes Head Horse keeper, Charles Beardmore who has been in the position for an impressive 40 years. 2010 also marked the 25th Anniversary of the Shires’ being honoured by the Mayor of Blackburn in 1985 for their commitment to the city of Blackburn as ambassadors. This was the first time ever that such an honour had been awarded to horses.

Thwaites started with ten public houses in 1807. Based at The Star Brewery in Blackburn, Thwaites now owns an estate of around 350 pubs, a small but growing group of characterful coaching inns and six four-star full service regional hotels and spas, which trade under the Shire Hotels banner.

In addition, Thwaites supplies a full range of drinks to many independently owned pubs, clubs and restaurants in the North of England and beyond and a wide range of bottled beers to most major supermarkets.

Having reached a historic milestone in 2007 - celebrating 200 years of brewing excellence, Thwaites continues to look forward to a future that will continue to build upon the ideals and beliefs born 200 years ago when Daniel Thwaites first began the northern brewery.

The family tradition continues to this present day. Ann Yerburgh is Chairman, son-in-law Richard Bailey is Chief Executive Officer and Arabella Yerburgh is a Non-Exec Director.

In 2011 Thwaites announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art brewery. The move, which is anticipated to take place in three to four years time will improve the brewers operational efficiency and signals Thwaites’ continued commitment to brewing quality ales.

At the end of 2011, Thwaites installed a new 200k craft brewery within the Star brewery in Blackburn named ‘Crafty Dan’. Featuring three new fermenters, Crafty Dan enables Thwaites to create up to three new beers a week as well as one off brews to mark special events.

In January 2012, Thwaites agreed to purchase the free trade interests of Hydes Brewery.