Heavitree Brewery Ltd Round Tin

Heavitree Brewery Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s.

Foundation & Registration of the Heavitree Brewery

The business, originally named the 'Heavitree Family Brewery', was founded by John Wolland on Church Street in the village of Heavitree, near Exeter, in 1790.
In 1806, aged 53, John married Anne Carter. When he died in 1810, he left no heir, leaving his entire estate to his wife.
The running of the brewery was left to John's nephew William Wolland, followed by his son, Thomas Wolland.
The Wolland family ran the business for the first 50 years of its trading.
Thomas Wolland was brewing 'Old Strong Beer' at the brewery in 1834.
John's sister, Elizabeth, married an iron merchant, Thomas R Baker, who joined John as a partner in the brewery, in 1837.
Thomas Baker died that year, and although John continued to run the business for a short while, Elizabeth became its sole owner around 1840.
The brewery suffered fire damage in 1847.
By 1857, the brewery was named the Heavitree Brewery, with Elizabeth Baker, listed as its brewer.
In 1860 the firm traded as Baker & Son, when Elizabeth's son, Robert Baker, joined her.
With Robert increasingly taking the lead role, the brewery continued to steadily expand, as evidenced by the fact that in 1860 it employed nine workers, eighteen in 1871, and by 1881, this totalled twenty three.
Elizabeth died aged 84 in 1889, when Robert decided to realise his assets.
The Company was registered as the Heavitree Brewery Ltd, in 1890.
Robert remained on the board of the new Company, and also became active in local politics, until his death in 1911.
The firm's famous ' Sheaf of Bearley & Sickle' trade mark, was registered in 1891.
After registration the Company followed an acquisition strategy, and had purchased two local breweries before the turn of the century. The business of George & Charles Finch, its Eagle Brewery, and a considerable number of public houses were purchased in 1892, and Crowson & Son's Windsor Brewery, with 18 public houses, also based in Exeter, was taken over in 1899. The premises were used as maltings until being converted into stores, in 1912.

20th Century Acquistions

In 1903 a well was sunk to ensure the continuity of its water supply for future brewing.
In 1916 a Mr E.W.Gall was appointed Company Secretary, and General Manager, of the firm. For six years he systematically stole from the Company but was caught when he fled to Canada in 1922, and sentenced to three years penal servitude.
One of the main creditors, who was instrumental in discovering the fraud, was John Parnell Tucker, who owned the maltsters Edwin Tucker & Sons Ltd.
John Parnell Tucker, and H.C.Hammans, joined the Company after the departure of Gall, and they managed to ensure the business became financially sound again.
Despite the Gall setback, the Newton Abbot business of Pinsent & Sons, its Mill Lane Brewery, with 44 public houses, was acquired in 1919.
The Company acquired two further breweries in 1926, including Richard Brock Ferris Dawlish Brewery, with 30 public houses and a mineral water factory, in 1926, and Bartlett & Co. Ltd's Warfleet Brewery, based in Dartmouth.
John Parnell Tucker, became Chairman in 1927, and was soon joined by his nephew, Edwin Tucker, who became its subsequent Chairman, in 1954.

Heavitree Brewery Ltd Becomes a Pub Company

The Company decided to end brewing at the Heavitree Brewery in 1970, citing rising costs as the main reason.
The last brew in Exeter was in April 1970.
Edwin's son, William, became Chairman in 1974.
After the closure of the brewery, business was entirely focussed on managing the firm's tenanted pub estate.
Initially all 135 of its public houses were supplied by Whitbread & Co. Ltd.
The old brewery building was demolished in 1980.
In 1981 Heavitree Brewery Ltd became The Heavitree Brewery PLC.
In 1984, the rest of the site was sold for redevelopment, and the  remaining buildings were demolished in 1986.
The business is a profitable, stable, and independently run pub company, one of the oldest in the South West of England.
It operates from Trood House, in Matford, near Exeter, and owns over 50 tenanted and leased public houses.
William's son, Nicolas Tucker, is the current Chairman of the Company.

The manufacturer's mark states - Reginald Corfield Ltd Lombard Road, London. S.W.19.