History
The Kimberley Brewery was established and operated by the brewer Hardys & Hansons, and has a heritage dating from 1832. It was, at the time of closure, the oldest independent brewery in Nottinghamshire. Samuel Robinson opened the first commercial brewery in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, England, in a rented bake-house using water from the Alley Spring in what is now called Hardy Street. Stephen Hanson meanwhile built Hansons Limited on Brewery Street in 1847, also using water from the Alley Spring. William & Thomas Hardy were successful beer merchants from Heanor who bought Samuel Robinsons brewery in 1857.
The brewery complex which remains today is largely based on the buildings erected by the Hardy brothers in 1861 when they moved out of the old bake-house. In the same year, Stephen Hanson died and his business was carried on by his wife Mary and son Robert. There was much friendly rivalry between the two brewing companies who proceeded to buy pubs throughout the area to supply with their own ales.
Both breweries began to run short of water and so by mutual agreement the water from the local Holly Well spring was shared between them. Having been attracted by the supply of excellent brewing water from the Holly Well, both breweries thrived independently until 1930, when under increasing pressure from larger brewing companies, and from a lack of male successors to the Hardy's Brewery, the two companies combined.
In 2006, The Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Brewery and all of its public houses were sold in a multi-million pound deal to Greene King brewery, who decided to end the brewing tradition in Kimberley in "a cost effective move" and then sell the Kimberley site. They moved the distribution centre to Eastwood and the continued brewing of a limited number of their beers moved to the main Greene King site at Bury St Edmunds. In December 2010 the site was bought by the Leicester-based Alif Group ahead of an auction due to take place; paying more than the auction guide price of £1.25million, the brewery site having originally been valued at the time of the sale to Greene King at £5 -6 millions. Alif Group are a bathroom wholesaler so it is likely that the site will be used as a store for their products.
The Explore
After seeing this pop up a few months previous me & @hamtagger decided to take a look, we were in the area checking out other sites and it was nearing the end of the day when this popped up on the radar. Getting in was no issue, most of the site has now been demolished and rubble was all you could see on one side of the site. The main brewing house in a C shape was really all that was left on this side of the road. A small walkway connected this side to the other side of the road which only has a small portion left. That side is home to a big new housing development and that is what the future holds for this side too.
The explore was pretty quiet, the place made all kinds of noises. Very empty, lots of wind, pigeons and creaks. Nice and leisurely though. Pretty photogenic and really did have a bit left to see. The architecture and the pillars reminded me of Dalton Mills where @Hydro had been last year. I liked it! Some areas had been prone to vandalism but there was a vast area which was pretty cool.
I really liked the stairs and little windows. The building was lovely. I suspect this is probably gone now as demo was well on the way.
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Thanks for looking!
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