Truman's Brewery

[1] The situation changed for Truman's in the 20th century as it had to come to terms with the rise of lager, cheaper competition from imports and the consolidation of the biggest names in British brewing through mergers.

The Prince had the good nature to order a second bonfire on the succeeding night and procured four barrels of beer from Truman ‘with which the populace was pleased and satisfied’".

It reputedly gained its present name when the landlord of the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, London (a former Truman's pub) requested that his brewer Harwood, supply the beer ready mixed.

Renowned for demanding high quality raw materials, under his control Truman's expansion continued apace – porter production doubled between 1800 and 1820 from 100,000 to 200,000 brewers barrels a year.

[9] In 1808, Hanbury's nephew Thomas Fowell Buxton joined the firm and went on to play a big role in Truman's future, as well as leaving his mark on national history.

Fresh from a brilliant career at Trinity College, Dublin,[10] the young Buxton was handed control of the ledgers, later taking on responsibility for reorganising the brewery to improve efficiency, which he achieved with great success.

This he did by the simple expedient of employing a school master to teach them and telling his men: ‘This day six weeks I shall discharge every man who cannot read and write’.

He had his way, and so the meal consisted largely of beef steaks cooked on the furnace of the brewery boiler house.”[13] This was also a time when Truman's was doing a lot of exporting, primarily to the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.

Unable to brew pale ale to the same standard (due to the difference in water properties), Truman's looked to strike an agency agreement with one of the Burton brewers.

They hired the nation's most renowned brewery architects and engineers to entirely reconstruct the Burton plan, the acquisition of which had made Truman's the world's largest brewer.

Though sales and assets continued to grow, financing the business was proving increasingly difficult due to the huge sums of money they had tied up in public houses, as well as the restrictive licensing laws of Gladstone.

[18] Truman's continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century, increasing its pub estate and buying up suppliers (especially during the war years when supply of raw materials become particularly important to control).

The 1960s proved to be very turbulent years for the British brewing industry, but Truman's took decisive steps that meant by the end of the decade they were the last major independent brewery left in London.

[22] After operating for 9 years in London the brewery became known as Big Penny Beer and the rights to the Truman brand were once again sold, this time to the owners of the original brewing site in Brick Lane.