Meux Maltings

Ipswich Wet Dock area used to be famous for its maltings industries. Companies such as R. & W. Paul Ltd. made fortunes converting barley into malt, mainly for the brewing industries. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that a well-known brewery company in the mid-20th century, Friary Meux (pronounced ‘mew'), had a large maltings fronting onto Fore Street. At the rear of the building was an access to the quayside.

It is fairly certain from investigation that although the buildings were lettered ‘Meux's Brewery Co. Ltd.' they were indeed maltings, rather than a brewery like the Tolly Cobbold operationoutside the Wet Dock, on the east riverbank. An attractive building with decorative features, it can be seen in several photographs on this website. See the David Kindred set linked from our '61 Photos page; also a view down Fore Street in the set of film stills. It was a five storey maltings signed ‘MEAUX'S BREWERY' and 'TMLtd, 1912' on the Fore Street elevation. Sir Henry Meux brewed porter under the name Henry Meux & Co. from 1807, eventually becoming Friary Meux Ltd in 1956. Drawings of the brewery buildings can be seen on our '61 Drawings page use the 'Pencil on Tracing Paper Drawings' link.

The Horse Shoe Brewery was located on the junction of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street London (the site of today's Dominion Theatre). It was established in 1764 and became a major producer of porter (a dark style of beer developed in London made from brown malt - the name was first recorded in the 18th century and is thought to come from its popularity with street and river porters) after 1809 when the brewery was acquired by Henry Meux. It was the site of the ‘London Beer Flood' in 1814, which killed eight people after a huge porter vat burst. The brewery was closed in 1921.

North end of the Wet Dock, Ipswich. Photograph by Brian Jepson “from the early 60s” and taken with “Birkin Haward's Leica”. Displayed at Waterfront Maritime Heritage weekend, Old Custom House Ipswich, September 2008.

Brian Jepson's atmospheric photograph taken across the water shows the maltings and Eastern Counties feed mill in the foreground, with a surprising perspective of the newly-built Civic College in the background.

Meux Maltings to the left. Melanie & Goulder coal offices to the right.

See also Fore Street maps showing Listed buildings and Public houses.