Brewery History

This page seeks to give information on former breweries in the Derby CAMRA area including information on the brewery buildings.

Rise, fall and revival of brewing in Derby
Brewing in Derby grew with the town. The earliest (publican) breweries got their basic ingredient, from the numerous malt houses. Derby at the end of the 17th century had 76 malt houses and 129 alehouses in a town with 694 dwellings. It then had just one common, or wholesale, brewer Thomas Lowe (later Alton & Co Ltd). They were followed by Strettons and then Offilers who by 1966 were the sole Derby common brewery. All the others, including numerous publican breweries (home brew pubs), had been taken over by either Allsopps or Bass. Three decades later local brewing on a small scale returned when Trevor Harris and John Evans started brewing at the Brunswick Inn. They were followed by a host of similar micro breweries encouraged by new progressive tax and duty arrangements.
John Arguile.

Alton & Co

Offices extant on the Wardwick which became the Wardwick pub in 1969.

Derventio

A microbrewery taking its name from the old Roman name for Derby, Derventio started in 2006 in Little Chester. The brewery has expanded over time and is now based in the Darley Abbey area of Derby. Wound up at the end of 2020.

Flamingo & Firkin — Beckett Street, Derby

Started in December 1988 at 1-7 Beckett Street, Derby as part of the nationwide Firkin chain of brewpubs which started in London. The Flamingo for a while was one of only two Firkin pubs outside London, the other being in Manchester. Brewing stopped in 1999. The building still stands [2023] and has since been a nightclub, but is currently disused. The Hairy Dog pub now occupies the adjacent site.

Hartshorn — Alfreton Road, Derby