FoxearthBrew

Britain in the mid-1950s saw a dispiriting mini-
economic crisis thanks principally due to sterling
emergency which led to the reduced purchasing power of
the pound, consequently people were spending less - beer
was a luxury not a necessity.

Taylor Walker officially took over the brewery and 31
tied houses and off-licences on All Saints Day 1957 with
David now assistant managing director of the Foxearth
branch.

When a presentation was made to Harold on his
retirement as managing director, he made a speech to his
staff telling them that they would keep their jobs now that
the brewery had changed hands.

The hidden cost of the sterling crisis had taxes climbing
disproportionately. The cost of brewing including beer duty
rose to an all-time high which greatly affected the
brewery’s economics; obviously this had some bearing on
how the directors felt about continuing brewing at
Foxearth. It wasn’t that the business was under immediate
pressure to sell, but the cost of brewing was escalating and
sales were diminishing. In 1956 beer duty accounted for a
shocking £38,785 of £47, 888 brewing costs.

Although such proclamations were not over-optimistic,
Taylor Walker’s underlying strategy was to end all brewing
at Foxearth within two years and to then use the brewery
building to bottle Worthington, Bass and Guinness
products37. Harold Ward made it abundantly clear that so
much relied on the continued popularity for beer but
whatever happened the buildings would also serve as a
radial supply depot. This brought two distinct advantages
to those who were employed at the brewery - they would
keep their jobs and receive a pension when they retired.
The latter reform swept away the fear of poverty. Just
thirty years earlier the workhouse loomed for those unable
to support themselves in later years; though it did provide
for the physical needs of shelter and food it took away the
self-respect of men and women whose whole lives had been
one continuous act of unconscious self reliance.

This was a time when the large breweries were
intensifying competition into the ‘free trade’ public houses.
After a number of offers, including one by Cockburns which
would have seen David Ward uprooting his family to live in
Portugal, the directors of the company decided to sell the
company to Taylor Walker of the Barleymow Brewery,
Limehouse in London; one of the liveliest companies at the
time.

Lieutenant Colonel Kingsmill,36 had been buying up
smaller breweries since the 1920s but had put on extra
pace in the Fifties. In 1956 they bought out three rivals and
Ward’s was one of several in 1957. Others that year
included The Victoria Wine Company Ltd and the Dunmow
Brewery - a firm famous in its day for being one of the few
without a beer allowance but permitting staff to drink as
much as they wished whilst at work. David Ward would
come to know it well, a few years later.

Ward’s had at first been chosen to become the Guinness UK
centre of operation. The deal fell through as it was thought the
site was not near enough to London.