Tuttle Street, Wrexham, Wrexham County, Wales,

Street View of Border Brewery Chimney | Map of Border Brewery Chimney location

The Border Brewery Chimney is located to the rear of the Nags Head Public House in Tuttle Street. Wrexham, North Wales. The substantial chimney is a Grade II listed building dating from 1894 and its height competes with the tower of St Giles Church nearby. It was built as part of Soames Brewery, which became Border Brewery in 1932. F W Soames had acquired the site in 1879, when it was occupied by a smaller brewery associated with the Nag's Head Inn. It is built of brick with wrought iron reinforcing bands, with a high base with recessed panels surmounted by a corbelled chamber incorporating dated terracotta panels with the initial 'S' (Soames Brewery) below the octagonal shaft which terminates in a moulded projecting stone cornice and cap. It is an excellent example of chimney design, highly ornamental and in its way as much a piece of public art as St Giles Church.

Wrexham was known for its beer from medieval times. The town had good underground water supplies and good water meant good beer. In the 19th century brewers and breweries dominated Wrexham. By the 1860s there were 19 breweries in the town. The brewers held positions of power; two of them, Thomas Rowland and Peter Walker, even fell out over who should be Mayor.

The breweries were in the centre of the town, along the River Gwenfro. The most famous was the Wrexham Lager Brewery. Founded in 1882, it was Britain's first successful lager brewery. A group of German immigrants started the brewery and Robert Graesser made its lager beer famous throughout the world.

Further downstream was Soames's Brewery. In Alfred Barnard's 1892 tour of British breweries, Soames's is singled out as making the best beer in Wrexham.

Sadly the 20th century was hard on Wrexham's breweries. During the Great Depression, Soames's Brewery had to merge with two local rivals forming Border Breweries to survive. Changing tastes and rationalisation led to the closure of Border Breweries in 1984 and Wrexham Lager Brewery in 2000.

But I can still remember the smell of the hops wafting across the Mold Road in the cold morning air while I wended my way to the Technical College all those years ago. Gone but not forgotten! And Wrexham Lager..ooh well ..that's another story of misspent youth and all that!....