West Country Ales tile - The Queens Arms - Hereford, Herefordshire - Relief Art Sculptures on Waymarking.com

These colourful brewery plaques are still quite a common sight in Gloucestershire, perhaps a little rarer as you go further afield. Here is one on the Queens Arms pub, East Street, Hereford.

"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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Your impression of the sculpture?: Where is this sculpture?: Queens Arms 4-5 Broad St Hereford, Herefordshire England HR4 9AP Date Sculpture was opened for vewing?: Not listed Website for sculpture?: Not listed Sculptors Name: Not listed

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