Northampton once boasted no fewer than five local breweries and The Albion Brewery in Commercial Street was one of them. The opening of a new entertainment complex on the site where the brewery once stood will have stirred many memories of the town’s rich brewing past...
Many Northampton residents will remember the old Albion Brewery building in Commercial Street for the distinctive stone carving of Bacchus, the God of wine, which gazed down at passers-by from above the entrance.
And it seems the spirit of Bacchus will soon be very much alive in Commercial Street once again with the opening of the new Aspers Northampton casino on June 26 at the site where the old brewery once stood.
The imposing venue has been designed to resemble the former brewery which was demolished to make way for the new building and will provide Northampton with an exciting new venue where both wine and ale will flow freely once more.
The new building looks uncannily like the old one, with its design incorporating many key features of the old building.
The Albion Steam Brewery was owned by one of the town’s earliest brewing companies, Ratliffe & Jeffery Ltd. It was founded by Thomas Ratliffe and was operating from Commercial Street from around 1861, when it was first mentioned in Melville & Co’s Directory of Northamptonshire.
William Jeffery, whose family owned a long established bakery and malting business in Northampton, joined Ratliffe in partnership in June 1869.
The company also had owned several tied cottages in Albion Place lived in by brewery workers, with the Head Brewer living at The Brewery House at 4 Albion Place.
Early in the 1880s the brewery was extended from 16 to 22 Commercial Street and right back to Foundry Street. When Ratliffe & Jeffery became a limited company in 1895 its assets included 135 tied pubs. The brewery is thought to have dropped the word steam from its title by 1890 when it appears in Kelly’s directory as Albion Brewery, ale and porter brewers.
In 1899 the company was taken over by Phipps Brewery following the death of William Jeffery which was said to have deprived Thomas Ratliffe of all motivation. Phipps was the most prominent of several early Northamptonshire breweries and was started by Pickering Phipps in Towcester in 1801. Phipps eventually took over premises in Bridge Street, where Carlsberg now operates.
Expansion at Bridge Street eventually led to the closure of the Albion Brewery. The brewery went up for sale in 1919 for £8,000 and was bought by wholesale grocers Messrs James & James and was also occupied by confectioners Sarjeant & Co Ltd who remained at the premises until the 1940s. The site was also a clothing factory from 1960 to 1980.
Phipps & Co meanwhile went on to amalgamate with the Northampton Brewery Company in 1957 to form one of the largest businesses in the region before being sold to Watney Manns in 1960. In 1974 the brewery was demolished and the entire Bridge Street site sold to Carlsberg.
Though the most interesting part of the Commercial Street site’s history relates to its brewing past, many people today are more likely to remember the old brewery building in its more recent role as an auction gallery. It became the home of Northampton Auction Galleries in 1982.
As the Albion Brewery site begins a new chapter in its long history Aspers general manager Mark Darnell said the company felt a great affinity with the site’s brewing roots.
He said: “In times gone by the breweries provided a great deal of enjoyment for the people of Northampton with their much loved public houses and locally brewed beer. We feel we are now providing a similar service with a wonderful new venue which will offer bars, restaurants and live entertainment, breathing new life into the heart of the town. ”