Davenports Brewery History(Continue)

Amazingly, this canteen was established in 1900 as a pioneer experiment in Works Welfare.
Equally surprisingly, it had several bathrooms* attached so the bottling staff could refresh themselves at the end of the working day.
At 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. tea and coffee and other beverages were served at prices subsidised by the company.
* The term "bathroom" is understood to be a room containing a bath or shower for washing purposes and not a toilet or W. C., although - no doubt - that facility would have been provided there.

In 1900s it was a legal requirement that in order to sell Ales and Stouts, they must first be ordered and invoiced to the customer. Thus, every order received passed through this office. Once the paperwork was out of the way, the order could be delivered to the customer.

A large number of clerical staff were required to carry out the detailed work of the Registered Customer Scheme. In this office Invoices and Delivery Sheets were typed to record every bottle of beer leaving the premises.

The Registration Office was where an individual wishing to become a member of the Scheme would be recorded.
In the days before computers, the details of over 175,000 customers were kept in the filing cabinets around the room.

This beautifully decorated, superbly appointed room was provided for the use of Davenports female staff (who were referred to as "lady clerks and typists."). Exactly what was meant by the word use is not clear, but it is supposed any of the ladies could simply come in here and relax and chat.

The Dining Room, situated on the ground floor, was another beautifully appointed room. The walls were decorated with oak paneling and hung with tapestries. It was in daily use and used by everyone from the Managing Director to the the most Junior Clerk.

Parked outside the Office building is seen a typical section of the fleet of vehicles. The closest and largest is a 12 ton capacity lorry, used to deliver to other depots for redistribution. Different sizes and types of lorry were chosen to suite the different loads and the nature of the journey.

The tour of Davenports is completed. However, we still have much to see and now need to look outside the Bath Row Brewery. We shall see several of the Depots and take a look at a selection of the Public Houses owned by the Company.
First, the Depots:

It would, of course, have been highly impractical to distribute all the beer from a central point, and so several depots were set up throughout the country. In addition to those pictured, branches were in Bristol, Clowne, Harwell, Lichfield, Manchester, Market Harborough, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and Wolverhampton.

Each depot was completely self-contained with its own garage, office, and store. It was also felt important that the buildings were attractive and many were built in classic styles. This is an example of mock Elizabethan architecture.
Amazingly, this building is also still in existence . It is number 117 Wolverhampton Road, Dudley. When photographed in May 2005, the present occupier - a design company - was moving out and the new tenant - a Christian Group - moving in.
A photograph can be seen in the Epilogue section of this site.

This building was - in 1935 - known as the Coventry Arms. It was one of the oldest inns in Worcester, dating back many centuries. It was previously named The Cardinal's Hat

Situated on the main road from Market Drayton to Newcastle-under-Lyme was this converted coaching inn. In addition to the usual requirements, it boasted its own petrol station.

This was probably the finest example of Public House architecture. It was rebuilt in 1929 in a style known as Cotswold Tudor. All the work was carried out by craftsmen from the Cotswold district using many generations-old traditions handed down from father to son.

Situated at the edge of Hayes Common, and newly built at the time of the publication of the booklet, the New Inn had every refinement of the time, including a Ballroom. Although modern, it was built to a pleasing and dignified old-fashioned design.

It was Davenports policy to provide a ballroom such as this in all their newer buildings. Together with the ballroom itself, were cloakrooms, dining rooms and a separate kitchen.

The purpose-built depot was situated on the corner of Rawden Street and Church Street in the Normanton area of the city. Because the building looks like a cinema, one gets the impression that it was large, but it is, in fact, not much larger that a house.
On the ground floor, the shop can be seen in the centre and was entered through the two doors either side of the bow window.
The first door on the left was a staff entrance. The next door opened to stairs that led to the depot manager's private rooms. The first floor being the living area and the top floor the bedrooms.

The building still exists and has been converted into flats (apartments). Apart from the wall and the shop window, little has changed externally. A photograph - taken May 2005 - can be seen in the Epilogue section of this site.

From the early 1950s to mid 1970s the depot was managed by Mr Walter Garvie. He is pictured here with his wife and daughter during a annual Sports Day, held at Cadbury's in Bournville, Birmingham.

The photograph below shows a few of Davanport's employees at one of those events.
By zooming in on the picture, you can read some of their stories.

When a salesman called he would leave a Postage-Paid Business Reply Card on which the customer could enter the order. It would then be posted to Davenport's and, in due course, delivered to the door. This one, per-dating decimalization, shows how prices and times have changed.