Gareth Evans gave a short talk at yesterday evening's history club on one Robert Roberts (1851 - 1923), described as Rhuthun/Ruthin's most successful businessman of his era. He was also the town's last brewer, or so Evans contended.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, many inns brewed their own beer. Robert Roberts's ventures were no exception. Roberts had been running the Corporation Arms from where he was already brewing. He took over the Hand Vaults or The Vaults, Well Street, in 1889, in a quest to expand beer production. The Hand, now demolished and replaced by a red brick building housing the current Army & Navy store, also housed a grocer shop. Roberts expanded the Hand, filling much of the land between it and Wynnstay Road. He also bought the adjoining premises, to form a modest industrial complex on Well Street and to its rear. Here would have been bustle... and the smell of brewing.
The Hand brewed but one beer at the time but upon Roberts's acquisition started to produce three. The flagship beer was Cwrw Hand. Roberts had tried to gain piped access to water from the limestone Galchod spring but was thwarted by the authorities. Instead, he used a hand cart to trunk the water to his brewery. In addition, the Hand produced ginger beer and bottled mineral water.
By this time, it had become easier to buy well-known beer from common breweries than for inns to brew their own. Roberts's beers were well known. He was the only local brewer who advertised in the local paper.
During his height, in addition to the Hand and the Corporation, Roberts owned the Boar's Head and the Feathers and he had an association with other pubs in town, notably the Farmers' Arms and the Royal Oak. The two letter Rs to either side of the door at Gamlin's solicitors on the Square indicated that this former pub, the Black Horse, was also one of Roberts's. He had an interest in the Drovers' Arms, Rhewl, and White Horse, Hendrerwydd.
In 1913, the government taxed beers heavily and this resulted in a collapse in demand. The Park Place brewery sold to Marston's in 1918. Some suggest that Roberts sold to Ind Coope in 1912 but Evans said that he did so *after* the Park Place sold. This was because he owned both delivery horses *and* a lorry—petrol trucks would only have been available after the First World War, as army surplus. Evans felt that Roberts's property was dispersed in 1919 when land was sold to the Denbigh & Ruthin Farmers. This, then, made Roberts Ruthun's last brewer.
Legacy
Roberts was something of a philanthropist and a man of great influence. He was a member of the society for the betterment of Rhuthun. He was a town councillor. He was well known and respected within the agricultural community.
He ensured that his own pubs or those with which he maintained an association were modernised, with attractive contemporary frontages which are still visible today, at the Feathers and Corporation, both of which continue and both are now within the same independent stable.
Above all, upon his death in 1923, he generously donated to the austere 1935 Baptist chapel on Park Street, paying for 75 per cent of the cost of the building outright. Thanks to Roberts, the chapel opened without any debt whatsoever, something of a remarkable and rare thing at the time. It is, of course, colloquially known as Capel Cwrw, after Roberts's donation and, as a result of that, some refused to go there.
The Hand brewed but one beer at the time but upon Roberts's acquisition started to produce three. The flagship beer was Cwrw Hand. Roberts had tried to gain piped access to water from the limestone Galchod spring but was thwarted by the authorities. Instead, he used a hand cart to trunk the water to his brewery. In addition, the Hand produced ginger beer and bottled mineral water.
By this time, it had become easier to buy well-known beer from common breweries than for inns to brew their own. Roberts's beers were well known. He was the only local brewer who advertised in the local paper.
Legacy
Roberts was something of a philanthropist and a man of great influence. He was a member of the society for the betterment of Rhuthun. He was a town councillor. He was well known and respected within the agricultural community.
He ensured that his own pubs or those with which he maintained an association were modernised, with attractive contemporary frontages which are still visible today, at the Feathers and Corporation, both of which continue and both are now within the same independent stable.
Above all, upon his death in 1923, he generously donated to the austere 1935 Baptist chapel on Park Street, paying for 75 per cent of the cost of the building outright. Thanks to Roberts, the chapel opened without any debt whatsoever, something of a remarkable and rare thing at the time. It is, of course, colloquially known as Capel Cwrw, after Roberts's donation and, as a result of that, some refused to go there.