1830 - 1983
opened in 1830 by Thomas Walker and bought by Whitbreads's Brewery in 1982 - brewing of Mackeson Stout ceased; Brewery closed in January 1983; acquired for £235,000 by Leeds City Council for a £17 million redevelopment as student flats for LMU (opened 1996)
Kirkstall Brewery is situated in Kirkstall, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It operated as a brewery between 1833 and 1983.
Kirkstall Brewery consists of several Grade II listed buildings. These buildings are situated on either side of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. On one of the buildings on the west side of the canal (The Warehouse) it is possible to see the doors just above the water level that were used to load barrels of beer onto barges.
History
The Kirkstall Brewery Co Ltd was registered in 1871, and by 1898 the brewery was producing around 72,000 barrels of beer a year. The beer was sold in Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond.
In 1936 Dutton’s Blackburn Brewery Ltd purchased Kirkstall Brewery Co Ltd. and its subsidiaries, Albion Brewery (Leeds) Ltd and Willow Brewery Co. Ltd.
In 1938 the Company was renamed Dutton’s Lancashire & Yorkshire Brewery Corporation Ltd.
Duttons in turn was bought by Whitbread in 1957. Kirkstall Brewery was re-equipped, and the production of bitter and mild went up to quarter of a million barrels a year. The brewery was closed in 1983, bringing to an end a 150-year tradition of brewing in the Kirkstall Valley.
beer label for Kirkstall Brewery features an image of Kirkstall Abbey and below it three swords pointing downwards, which were the Abbey's coat of arms. It is based on the coat of arms of the Peitivin family who gave the monks the site at Kirkstall.
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