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Burton is best known for its brewing heritage, home to over a dozen breweries in its heyday. It originally grew up around Burton-on-Trent Abbey, the monastery of St. Modwen, and had grown into a busy market town by the early modern period. While Burton's great bridge over the Trent was in poor repair by the early 16th century it served as "a comen passage to and fro many countries to the grett releff and comfort of travellyng people", according to the abbot. The town, which had an estimated population of 64,449 (2001 Census), lies within the National Forest. There is some confusion as to whether Burton is based in the West Midlands or the East Midlands, even though all of the urban centre is southwest of the River Dove, which forms the Derbyshire/Staffordshire boundary. This is probably because it was formerly within the East Midlands Utility (electricity/gas) areas, and has Derby postcodes (DE13-DE15). The town is served by Burton-on-Trent railway station. For centuries, Burton has been associated with the brewing industry. This is due to the quality of the local water, which contains a high proportion of dissolved salts, predominantly caused by the gypsum in the surrounding hills. This allowed a greater proportion of hops, a natural preservative, to be included in the beer, thereby allowing the beer to be shipped further afield. Much of the open land within and around the town is protected from chemical treatment to help preserve this water quality. The town is currently home to five brewers: * Coors Brewers Ltd: formerly Bass Brewers Ltd, and now the UK arm of Molson Coors Brewing Company - a brewery from Canada (co-headquartered in the United States) - which produces Carling and Worthington Bitter * Marston, Thompson and Evershed plc, bought by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries now renamed Marstons plc. The Marston's Brewery also produces draught Bass under licence from InBev * Burton Bridge Brewery, a local company * Tower Brewery, a new microbrewery * Cottage Brewery, based in the Old Cottage Inn It is also the corporate headquarters of the pub operator Punch Taverns plc, which was spun out of Bass in 1997. In addition, the micro-brewery remains open alongside the former Coors Visitor Centre (previously the Bass Museum of Brewing). A by-product of the brewing industry, figuratively and literally, is the presence of the famous British icon Marmite factory in the town. This in turn generated the production of Bovril. Both owned by multinational Unilever The opening of the River Trent Navigation at the beginning of the 18th century allowed Burton beer to be shipped to Hull, and on to the Baltic Sea and Prussia, as well as to London where it was being sold in 1712. A number of breweries opened in the second half of the 18th century to take advantage of this trade. The Napoleonic blockade brought this to a halt, leading to some consolidation and a redirection of the trade to London and Lancashire via canals. When Burton brewers succeeded in replicating the pale ale produced in London, the advantage of the water’s qualities allowed the development of the trade of Burton India Pale Ale (an ale specially brewed to keep during the long sea voyage to India). The building of rail links to Liverpool enabled brewers to export their beer throughout the British Empire. Burton came to dominate this trade, and at its height one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced here. In the second half of the 19th century there was a growth in native breweries, supplemented by outside brewing companies moving into the town so that over 30 breweries were recorded in 1880. However at the beginning of the 20th century there was a slump in beer sales causing many breweries to fail, unhelped by the Liberal government’s anti-drinking attitudes. This time no new markets were found and so the breweries shrank by closure and consolidation from 20 in 1900 to 8 in 1928. A further process of mergers and buy-outs resulted in three main breweries remaining by 1980: Bass, Ind Coope and Marston's. Today, only Burton Bridge Brewery remains as an independent brewer. The town's connection with the brewing industry is celebrated by a sculpture of the Burton Cooper, which is now housed in the Cooper Square shopping centre. The National Brewery Centre (previously Coors Visitor Centre & the Museum of Brewing and before that the Bass Museum of Brewing) which celebrates the town's brewing heritage is its biggest tourist attraction. |
