Border Breweries (Wrexham)

Lore & Background

Border Breweries had its roots in a small operation at the Nag's Head public house in Wrexham, run by the Rowlands family between 1834 and 1874. It was acquired by Henry Aspinall, who named it the Wrexham Brewery and expanded it substantially, before being taken over by Arthur Soames, who entrusted management to his 21-year-old son Frederick. Within ten years, Frederick Soames built the business into a major producer.

Following the financial impact of the Great Depression, Border was formed by the 1931 merger of the Soames Wrexham Brewery (then in liquidation), the nearby Island Green Brewery (dating from 1856), and the Oswestry firm of Dorsett Owen. Operations were concentrated at the Soames Brewery site. Along with the Wrexham Lager Brewery, the new firm dominated the brewing industry in the town, which was the centre of the industry in North Wales due to its supply of suitable spring water.

Border distributed a variety of products, including Border Mild (a dark mild ale), Exhibition Ale, and its generally well-regarded Border Bitter, marketed with slogans such as 'Wine of Wales', 'Thirst Come Thirst Served', and 'Prince of Ales'. The writer and humourist Miles Kington, whose father was the brewery's director, commented that Border had 'managed to produce damned good beer but had never come up with a good slogan'. The bitter was described by journalist Richard Boston in 1976 as 'reddish in colour, pleasant in flavour, but rather thin'.

Border Bitter used Fuggles, Goldings and Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) hops. Border also bottled its own minerals. These products were sold in the firm's tied houses located throughout north and mid Wales, Shropshire, and parts of The Potteries.

Border's branding in its later years featured a pale blue and white colour scheme, a pseudo-Celtic font, and a stylised red Welsh dragon (a dragon had originally been used by the Island Green Brewery; Soames had used a bridled horse as its logo). The company had a prominent role in local event sponsorship: Wrexham F.C.'s Racecourse Ground, whose land was owned by the brewery, had a 'Border Stand' for many years.

A Landlocked Border Landscape

Wrexham County Borough occupies a distinctive position as a landlocked principal area pressed against the England–Wales frontier, touching Cheshire to the east and Shropshire to the south and south-east. Stretching across roughly 193 square miles, the territory presents a striking internal contrast: the eastern half lies comparatively flat, while the western reaches climb into the Berwyn range and the rolling uplands of the Ruabon Moors. Two rivers shape the character of the land.

The Ceiriog threads through the south-eastern salient before joining the Dee east of Chirk, and the Dee itself sweeps in near Cefn Mawr, carving a broad plain as it heads north-east toward Cheshire. Much of the north-western corridor, running down to Chirk, falls within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The borough's position in the Welsh Marches gives it a permanent border-country identity, sharing boundaries with five other administrative areas and two English ceremonial counties, a fact that has influenced both its settlement patterns and its sense of place within Wales.

Iron, Coal, and the Brewing Trade

Long before modern industry took hold, the Wrexham district was a crucible of early manufacturing. The Bersham Ironworks, nestled in the Clywedog Valley, operated from 1715 to 1812 and earned a reputation for pioneering cannon production, placing the area on the map of early British arms-making. The broader North Wales Coalfield saw substantial mining activity throughout the nineteenth century, fueling both local forges and distant markets.

Alongside heavy industry, lighter trades such as tanning and brewing became significant pillars of the local economy, embedding a culture of craft production in the community. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, standing near Cefn Mawr, remains a remarkable survivor of that early industrial era and now carries UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Medieval fortifications also dot the landscape: Chirk Castle has been transformed into a country house, while Holt Castle survives only in fragments, reminding residents of the area's layered past from feudal garrison to industrial powerhouse.

The Long Road to City Status

Wrexham's journey to formal recognition spanned nearly two centuries. In 1848, alarm over unsanitary conditions and the spectre of cholera in the growing town spurred residents to petition for incorporation. By September 1857, a royal charter was granted, creating a borough council and mayor under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and bestowing a coat of arms on the town. For the next century and a half, the area's administrative identity shifted repeatedly: it sat within Denbighshire until 1974, when the old borough and surrounding rural districts were folded into the Wrexham Maelor district of the newly created county of Clwyd.

A 1963 Local Government Commission report had earlier rejected the idea of a standalone Wrexham county borough. Clwyd itself was dissolved in 1996, and Wrexham finally emerged as a full principal area with county-level powers. Boundary disputes with Denbighshire over the Llangollen area were settled through community referendums, with a 2000 vote of just nineteen deciding Llangollen's fate. On 1 September 2022, the long-sought city status was formally awarded, capping a two-hundred-year campaign for recognition.

A Diverse Modern Community

Today the county borough is home to just over 136,000 people, with the urbanised northern cluster around Wrexham itself accounting for roughly 44,800 residents. The settlement pattern fans outward into industrial estates and outlying villages such as Brynteg, Gwersyllt, Rhosllanerchrugog, Ruabon, Acrefair, and Cefn Mawr, while the more remote Ceiriog Valley and English Maelor retain a predominantly rural character. The economy has broadened well beyond its mining and ironworking roots, now spanning engineering, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and food processing, with agriculture still dominant in the southern reaches.

The area hosts Wrexham University, one of Wales' three Roman Catholic cathedrals, and the Wrexham Industrial Estate. HMP Berwyn, the United Kingdom's largest prison, also sits within the borough's boundaries. As a preserved county within the ceremonial county of Clwyd and a newly designated city, Wrexham County Borough continues to evolve while carrying the weight of its layered administrative and industrial heritage.

Reader's Guide

Border Breweries (Wrexham) Ltd was a regional brewery that operated from 1874 until 1984, when it fell victim to the increasing consolidation of the UK brewing industry. In 1984, two larger firms, Burtonwood Brewery and Marston Thompson and Evershed, sought to acquire Border and its 170 tied houses. Border's share price rose 43p to 155p in a day on 15 February following rumours of a bid, and subsequently rose further to 208p.

Marston's, thanks to the influence of Whitbread (who owned a minority stake in both companies), eventually succeeded and, despite public assurances to the contrary, closed the Border site within six months. They continued to produce Border products for some years under the Marston's name, though this has now ceased. Border Breweries (Wrexham) Ltd still exists as UK registered company 00257409, as part of Marston's.

In 1985, some of Border's former staff set up the small-scale Plassey Brewery at Eyton outside Wrexham, which still produces beer using Border recipes in some cases. The partly listed Border premises in Tuttle Street, Wrexham have been converted into flats, while the adjacent Nag's Head, where the company had its origins, remains open as a pub. The brewery's chimney, a prominent Wrexham landmark, was purchased by the then local Member of Parliament John Marek to save it from demolition.