Fears growing over future of Walsall's historic Highgate Brewery
Fears are rising over the future of the historic Highgate Brewery in Walsall after rumours circulated that beer production could be moved out of the region.
And Walsall Council said it has asked for reassurements over security at the listed building, because it fears for its future if it is left unprotected.
Highgate & Davenports, the company that made the famous Midland beers at the Sandymount Road brewery, collapsed suddenly two weeks ago, owing large amounts to the taxman. The 20 employees at the firm were made redundant immediately.
However the company that owns the Grade II-listed brewery – Smethwick pub group Empire Star – is still trading, and said it was looking for another brewery to take on production of beers like Highgate Dark Mild.
Campaigners hoping to save the beer and the brewery have said they are worried that if production moves away from Sandymount Road it could mean the end for the historic site, one of the best-preserved Victorian brewery buildings in the country.
One industry source said he had heard production of the beers might be moved to a brewery in Liverpool.
A “Save Highgate Brewery” Facebook group has been set up, and has already attracted more than 1,400 members. They have asked Walsall South MP Valerie Vaz to table an early day motion in parliament to keep the building in use as a brewery.
Councillor Adrian Andrew, the cabinet member for regeneration at Walsall Council, said the council was also keen to see the brewery kept running
In a statement sent to a campaigner and published on the Facebook group, he said: “Officers have been in constant contact with the administrators of the business in order to offer support to the people who have lost their jobs.
“I have also requested officers to contact the administrators and the owners of the site to provide the council with the details of their plans for the security of the site because as you know historic buildings in Walsall that are empty have a tendency to go up in flames.”
Highgate & Davenports, the brewer that collapsed recently, was the second failed brewery to operate out of Sandymount Road. The previous brewers collapsed in September 2009, with unpaid tax bills of more than £1 million. Directors Simon Toon and David Dindol created the Highgate & Davenports name to take over the brewing duty.
It received a large amount of publicity when it revived the Davenports beer brand – a popular Midland beer that had not been available since the Birmingham brewery that made it closed nearly two decades before.
But the £80,000 the pair paid to take over brewing at the site did not cover the property or equipment there, or the small pub chain attached to the Highgate name.
Empire Star is the Smethwick-based pub group which has owned the Highgate brewery facilities since buying them from the Aston Manor Brewery in 2007. It is run by director Wayne Toon.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment on the latest developments. After Highgate & Davenports collapsed last week, the company said it “would ideally like to see someone brewing again from the site”, but that there had been no interest so far.
