THE HORSESHOE WAVE

See Also: BEER; BREWING, DISAPPEARED OR RELOCATED; THE HYENA HUNTERS OF SOUTHWARK

Porter is purported to have been invented in the 18^thC by Ralph Harwood, the landlord of The Bell brewhouse in Shoreditch. It has been stated that his customers had acquired a taste for a cocktail beer made up of various ales that he sold. Harwood experimented to see if he could brew a single tipple that would be to his customers taste. By curing the malts for longer than had previously been the practice, he came up with a brew that fitted the bill - porter. The carbonated character of the metropolis's water is supposed to have contributed to the character of the new beer. It became Londoners favourite drink.

The additional curing required the use of more fuel, which cost money. The production of beer came to require more capital. It reinforced an existing trend that involved brewing's metamorphosis from being a craft that was practised by individual brewer-publicans into being an industry that was directed by brewer-capitalists, such as David Barclay.

The taste for porter dominated the Englishman's thirst for over a century. However, by the end of the 19^thC it had a rival in the pale ales that were being produced at Burton-on-Trent in Derbyshire.

Porter received its death-blow during the First World War when restrictions on fuel use stopped malts being cured for as long as was necessary. By the end of the war, the more energy efficient bitter was the public's preferred beer. That the latter should have lost so much of its ground to lager since the Second World War should not be surprising. In terms of centuries, Londoners taste in beer is fickle.

The Horse Shoe Brewery was founded by Henry Meux. It was located on the north-western side of the rookery of St Giles. The business acquired a 22ft.-tall porter vat, of which it was very proud. On 17 October 1814 the container's side ripped open. The force of the released liquid was such that a domino effect shattered in succession the vessels that neighboured it. As a result, a wave of beer burst out on to the street. The energy that it possessed demolished two houses as well as damaging The Tavistock Arms pub. Nine people were killed in the disaster, eight of them by drowning.¹

In 1921 Meux bought the Thorne Brothers brewery and transferred its operations to Thornes Nine Elms Lane site. The following year the Horse Shoe brewery was demolished.²

Location: The Dominion Theatre, 269 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7AQ. The venue stands upon the site of the original Meux Brewery. (orange, turquoise)

41 (27-31) Nine Elms Lane, SW8 5DB

(Reading: Stephen Puelo Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 Beacon Press (2004). A similar incident that occurred in Massachusetts.)

See Also: BEER Porter; WALLS & GATEWAYS Temple Bar

¹. Sir Dudley Majoribanks (d.1894) served as the Chairman of Meux for a period. His principal legacy to the world was establishing the golden retriever breed of gundog.

². In 1961 Friary Holroyd & Healy's Brewery of Guildford bought Meux. In 1964 Ind Coope bought Friary Meux.

David Backhouse 2024