Sidmouth brewery labels boost collection

BEER bottle labels, winging their way to David Taylor, chairman of the Association of British Brewery Collectables, will help fill a gap in his collection of items from Sidmouth s former Vallances Brewery.

BEER bottle labels, winging their way to David Taylor, chairman of the Association of British Brewery Collectables, will help fill a gap in his collection of items from Sidmouth's former Vallances Brewery.

Doug Nichol from Brewery Lane, received them "out of the blue" last week, along with an empty mineral bottle with the Vallances' mark.

Doug, a former general foreman at the brewery, decided to post them to David, who he met last year to help him solve the mystery of Coronation Ale brewed in the town.

David, from Dorset, said: "I didn't have any of the labels, they are hard to come by because when it [brewery] closed in 1959 they burned them all.

"I haven't got any Vallances' bottles so the empty one will go on my shelf, but I'm really after a full one of beer!

When David visited Sidmouth Museum recently he found a cutting from the Sidmouth Herald of May 1937 showing both pint and half-pint bottles of Coronation Ale were brewed for King George VI.

"They were available throughout East Devon and cost 1/- and 7d. None of our members knew they existed.