YOU 1585 The Fold 4 (289x400) AW Digital (2) - Flipbook - Page 16
Drays today
Every year, on our birthday, our
lovingly preserved Dray cart and
lovingly cared-for Shires take a
little trip around town.
Gentle giants
We once had over twenty
magni昀椀cent Shire horses at our
brewery stables. They delivered
beer, and they won untold awards
for their handsomeness.
1831 was
a good year
It’s when our story began, so it’s a special
old year for us. We won’t get into every
single in and out of our history, but we
thought you might like a nutshell in case
it comes up in a pub quiz one day.
Here we go. Charles Young and Anthony Bainbridge bought
themselves a brewery (as you do) called the Ram on 23rd
November 1831 and set up the company Young & Bainbridge
to run it. Young went 昀椀rst in the name because Charles put more
cash towards the purchase. But Charles was also more hands-on.
He had a beer-based background, having been a backmaker (the
old-timey name for barrel makers). His father had been one, too,
and he had a lot of pals in the brewing biz, so it was a natural way
to go for him.
The Ram Brewery, located right in the middle of Wandsworth,
had already been brewing since Henry VIII was doing his king
thing. So it was a much-loved London institution equipped
with everything needed to feed the city’s growing thirst for
the good stuff.
Mr John, CBE
That’s the name John Young
was given. He was one of life’s
colourful characters. He headed
up our family from 1962 to 2006,
and never a dull day was had.
But there was also the fun of the fact that when Charles and
Anthony bought the brewery, 82 pubs came along with it.
So, they found themselves not only brewing beer but looking
after people who drank beer, too.
Fast forward to 1864 through a brewery 昀椀re (apparently started
for the ‘purpose of plunder’), expansion of the site, a growing
menagerie of animals in the stables, and the brewing of enough
beer to sink a ship. This was when we became Young’s (well,
Young & Co’s, but we tend to use our nickname) because
Charles Allen Young’s son, Charles Florance Young, took over
the reins.
We’ve been independent ever since, running the brewery and
a growing gaggle of pubs until 2006, when we sold the brewery
and focused our attention on our quirky, individual pubs.
What’s most unusual for a business with some age on it
(something that makes us very proud) is that a Young family
member has been involved from 1831 to this day. That means
there’s an actual family at the heart of the one big happy family
that is Young’s.
