Meux's Brewery

The Horse Shoe Brewery was an English brewery located in central London. It was established in 1764 and became a major producer of porter. It was the site of the London Beer Flood in 1814, which killed eight people after a porter vat burst. The brewery was closed in 1921.

The brewery tap, the Horseshoe, was established in 1623, and was named after the shape of its first dining room. The brewery was named after the tavern. The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 on the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. By at least 1785 it was owned by Thomas Fassett. By 1786-7, it had the 11th largest output of porter of any London brewery, producing 40,279 barrels a year.

By 1792 the brewery was owned by John Stephenson the younger, son of John Stephenson the elder. In 1794, after Stephenson's early death, the brewery ownership passed to Edward Biley. Biley ran the brewery until January 1809 when he was joined in partnership by John Blackburn and Edward Gale Bolero. Towards the end of 1809 the brewery was acquired by Henry Meux, who had been a partner in one of the largest of London’s porter brewers, Meux Reid of the Griffin Brewery in Clerkenwell. The company traded under the name Henry Meux & Co. The horseshoe became part of the Meux identity and was incorporated into its logo. By 1811 annual production had reached 103,502 barrels, making it the sixth largest brewer of porter in London. In 1813/14 the Horse Shoe brewery merged with or acquired Clowes & Co of Bermondsey.

On the 17 October 1814, corroded hoops on a large vat at the brewery prompted the sudden release of about 7,600 imperial barrels (270,000 imp gal) of porter. The resulting torrent caused severe damage to the brewery's walls and was powerful enough to cause several heavy wooden beams to collapse. The flood's severity was exacerbated by the landscape, which was generally flat. The brewery was located in a densely populated and tightly packed area of squalid housing (known as the rookery). Many of these houses had cellars. To save themselves from the rising tide of alcohol, some of the occupants were forced to climb on furniture. Several adjoining houses were severely damaged, and eight people killed. The accident cost the brewery about £23,000, although it petitioned Parliament for about £7,250 in excise drawback, saving it from bankruptcy.

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