Former address:
Interbrew UK, PO Box 23 Manchester M60. Tel: 0161-828 2000.
Located on the
corner of Great Ducie Street & New Bridge Street, Strangeways, Manchester
where the original well from which the first Boddington's ales are
reputed to have been made.
The self
proclaimed "Cream of Manchester", Boddington's Bitter (or locally,
just "Boddies") has had a long traditional association with good
ales, brewed on the site of their Strangeways Brewery since the
late 18th century.
Brewing
on this old site ceased in February 2005 amid a great deal of controversy
and opposition - Boddingtons will henceforth be produced at other
locations around the UK and has lost its historic association with
the City of Manchester.
The site
is still awaiting some permanent redevelopment with shops, houses
and a new hotel planned - the site still awaits development and
exists now, typically, and sadly, as a car park.
The Boddington
company was taken over by the Whitbread Group in the early 1990s
and is now part of the Interbrew UK company. There were once popular
guided tours of the brewery, with a complimentary glass of beer
at the end.
The beer
had long been rated locally, but clever marketing and a massive
TV advertising campaign imprinted its name into the national consciousness.
Paradoxically,
Boddington's Bitter was heralded in these highly successful advertising
campaigns as "The Cream of Manchester". Sadly, the "Cream
of Manchester" is no longer brewed in Manchester .... ah well
- everything changes.
