West Country Ales tile - The Bell Inn - Frampton on Severn, Gloucestershire
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SMacB
N 51° 46.312 W 002° 21.819
30U E 543906 N 5735857
These colourful brewery plaques are still quite a common sight in Gloucestershire and are taken very much for granted. West Country Ales plaques are a reminder of Gloucestershire’s once proud brewing heritage.
Waymark Code: WMY4CJ
Location: Southern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/18/2018
Views: 1
A single ceramic tile advertising West Country Ales, with the distinctive castle logo in relief located on the front of The Bell Inn, Frampton on Severn.
"West Country Breweries were established in 1958 when the Stroud Brewery merged with the Cheltenham Brewery. By coincidence both the Stroud Brewery and the Cheltenham Brewery first started brewing in the same year – 1760. The date is recorded in the ceramic plaques. West Country Breweries were a large regional company with tied houses extending into Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and parts of Wales. As a result, these colourful ‘castle’ plaques can still be seen as far away as Presteigne in Wales and Marlborough in Wiltshire.
The distinctive ‘castle’ or ‘tower’ design was first used by the Cheltenham Original Brewery, and ceramic brewery plaques once graced the outside of their tied houses with the words ‘Cheltenham Ales’. After the Second World War the Cheltenham Brewery acquired the Hereford and Tredegar Breweries. As a result the company changed its name to Cheltenham & Hereford Breweries and the old plaques were replaced with the new, but similar, ‘Cheltenham & Hereford Ales’ design. The old Foxhill Inn near Guiting Power still has such a plaque inlaid into the wall. The ‘West Country Ales’ plaques were placed in pub walls from 1958 until c.1967. Whitbread took over West Country Breweries in 1963 but for a few years after the acquisition Whitbread still used the West Country Ales ‘castle’ logo. There are two sizes and some slight colour differences in the glaze."
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