Joseph Holt's Brewery
Family-owned Manchester brewery since 1849, supplying over 500 outlets.
Joseph Holt is a Manchester brewery that has been in the same family for six generations since its founding in 1849. The company operates 127 pubs across Greater Manchester and the North West, and its beers are available in more than 500 outlets nationwide.
The brewery has been based at its site in Cheetham, north of Manchester city centre, since 1860. Ale and lager malts arrive in bulk and are stored in silos, while specialty malts still come in sacks. Daily production ranges from 15 to 500 barrels (4,500 to 150,000 pints). A hopback, using traditional whole leaf hops, is still employed to collect and clarify wort after boiling. All ales are top-fermented in enclosed square fermenters with a historic yeast strain, while lagers are fermented and conditioned in modern cylindroconical vessels. The brewery has its own borehole for brewing water and is one of only a handful of UK brewers that still rack into 36-gallon casks and hogsheads—the largest barrel size, holding 432 pints (54 imperial gallons) and weighing around 660 pounds when full.
Founder Joseph Holt was born in 1813 in Unsworth, a textile village near Bury, the son of a weaver. He worked as a carter at Harrison's Strangeways Brewery. In 1849, he married Catherine Parry, who helped finance a small brewery behind a pub on Oak Street, Manchester. In 1860, he bought the brewery site on Empire Street, Cheetham. His reputation persisted: in 2007, readers of the Manchester Evening News voted him "People's Champion" in the "Greatest ever Business Leaders" awards. By 1882, with a chain of 20 pubs, Joseph handed control to his son Edward. Edward Holt was later knighted, served as Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1907 to 1909, and was made a baronet in 1916. He died in 1928, and the company passed to his son, also Edward; the family still owns it.
For over thirty years, Peter Kershaw—a former rackets and real tennis champion known for his frugality—was chairman. His son Richard Kershaw, the founder’s great-grandson, joined the board in 1980 and, after his father’s death in 2000, became chief executive.
The company has a longstanding relationship with the Christie Hospital and the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester, dating back to Sir Edward Holt, who founded the Holt Radium Institute in 1914.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1849
- Founder
- Joseph Holt
- Headquarters
- Manchester
- Country
- England
- Num locations
- 127 pubs (2019)
- Industry
- Brewing
- Products
- Beer
- Brands
- Bitter
- Two Hoots
- Black Crystal
- Diamond
- Crystal Gold
- Humdinger
- Sixex
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Joseph Holt, the son of a weaver, was born in 1813 in Unsworth, a textile village near Bury. He worked as a carter at Harrison's Strangeways Brewery. In 1849 he married Catherine Parry, who helped finance a small brewery behind a pub on Oak Street, Manchester. In 1860, he purchased the brewery site on Empire Street, Cheetham. His reputation in Manchester endures; in 2007, readers of the Manchester Evening News voted him 'People's Champion' in the 'Greatest ever Business Leaders' awards. In 1882, by which time he had established a chain of 20 public houses, Joseph passed control of the brewery to his son Edward. Edward Holt was later knighted, served as Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1907 to 1909 and was made a baronet in 1916. He died in 1928 and the company passed to his son, Edward; it is still in the hands of the same family. For more than thirty years, Peter Kershaw, a former rackets and real tennis champion and a notoriously economical man, was chairman of the brewery. His son, Richard Kershaw, the great-grandson of the founder, joined him on the board in 1980 and, since the death of his father, in 2000, has been the chief executive.
Reader's Guide
Joseph Holt have brewed on their site in Cheetham, north of Manchester city centre, since 1860. Ale and lager malts are delivered in bulk loads and stored in silos, while speciality malts continue to be delivered in sacks. Between 15 and 500 barrels (4,500–150,000 pints) can be brewed per day, and a hopback is still in use, along with traditional whole leaf hops, to collect and clarify wort after boiling. All ales are top fermented in enclosed square fermenters using a historic yeast strain, while lagers are fermented and conditioned in modern cylindroconical vessels. Joseph Holt have their own borehole on the brewery site to abstract brewing liquor (water) and are one of only a handful of brewers in the UK still to rack into 36 gallon casks, as well as hogsheads, the largest barrel size, carrying 432 pints (54 impgal) and weighing roughly 660 lb when full. The company has a long-standing relationship with the Christie Hospital and the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester, dating back to Sir Edward Holt, the great-grandfather of the current Chief Executive who founded the Holt Radium Institute in 1914. In 2018, Joseph Holt received the British Beer and Pub Association's Heart of the Community award for the third year in a row, following campaigns to raise money for the Christie and Maggie's Centre. In 2017 the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group awarded Joseph Holt the National Pub Aid award for their support to the community.
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