West End Brewery

The West End Brewery was a South Australian brewer of beer founded in 1859 and closed in 1980. West End became a brand of the South Australian Brewing Company, and continues to this day.

Some time around 1844 William Henry Clark (approx. 1815–1870), an Irish immigrant to South Australia, founded the Halifax Street Brewery; to the nearby inhabitants a most unwelcome addition to the neighbourhood due to the stench of the liquid he discharged into Gilles Street.

Simms took over the Halifax Street operation in March 1856, then in February 1858 Clark sold the property to Henry Noltenius. In July 1858 Noltenius took in Simms as a partner, then in November 1858 sold him his interest in the business. Clark meanwhile had borrowed money from John Haimes to build a new brewery on Town Acre 66 at the south side of Hindley Street, midway between Morphett Street and West Terrace.

In 1859 a consortium of Simms, Haimes, and Edgar Chapman founded the "West End Brewery" on the Hindley Street property, and invested heavily in establishing buildings, in cellar construction, and equipping the brewery with all the latest refinements. The location had the advantage of proximity to the Parklands (less smell nuisance), the Port Road (transport of raw materials and finished product) and the River Torrens (handy for discharge of effluent). By October 1859 W. H. Clark (!) was advertising barrels of "West End Ale" for sale to publicans at ₤2/2s. They closed their smaller, competing establishments, which included Halifax Street.

Simms ran the business with help from Clark's brewer John Plummer Gardner. W. K. Simms bought the company in 1861; Edgar Chapman was his partner 1865–1879. An extensive contemporary description of the brewery may be read here. The West End Brewery proved highly profitable and Simms and Chapman became wealthy men. They joined with Edwin Smith, who in 1876 built a large brewery complete with its own malting facilities at Kent Town, William Rounsevell and Alfred Simms, as the South Australian Brewing, Malting & Wine & Spirit Co. Ltd., enlarging the brewing facilities at West End, and centering the malting work at Kent Town. In 1893 they sold off their wine and spirit business to A. E. & F. Tolley Pty Ltd and Milne & Co., and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.

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