Ward's Brewing Company

The Ward's branded window on the Shakespeare pub on West Bar.

My memories of Ward's Ales are only from the last 3 decades, but the Sheffield brewers' history dates back to 1837 (although not named 'Ward's' until 1868 when Septimus Henry Ward joined the company to help financially). The brewery closed in 1999 when Vaux (Ward's Brewery's owner) was broken up by financiers. Founders of Vaux did propose a buy-out but there bid was rejected.

My Dad used to drink Ward's Best Bitter in cans and in the pub when I was a youth, and I used to skateboard in the Safeway Supermarket car park that was shadowed by the (Ward's) Sheaf Brewery on Ecclesall Rd. I still miss the smell of malt in the air when I walk passed, although not everyone shares my fondness of that memory.

Ward's is still available from the Maxim Brewery (who operate out of Robinson's, Stockport) who make it to the same recipe and to the same methods, but surely without 'Sheaf' water it will never be the same.

The brewery land and buildings were sold to developers who used them to build apartments. Many of them still lay vacant, but even more annoying is the fact that the money made from the sale of the brewery was less than the bid made to save the brewery that was loved by so many.