Wheatley & Bates, mineral water manufacturers etc.

[hillsbro]

Does anyone have any personal memories of this firm? It has occasionally featured in other Forum threads but it seemed a good idea to start a thread for Wheatley & Bates. They were evidently in business in Sheffield until the 1950s, and they are described in Kelly's directories as "Wine, Spirit and cigar merchants, aerated water manufacturers, ale & porter bottlers, cordial, black beer & hop bitters brewers etc." Latterly their "Dantzic Works & Brewery" was on the north side of Napier Street; they also evidently had a brewery on Henry Street.

 

The firm's origins can be traced back to John Rutland Wheatley (1837-1916) who began his career as a salesman for a brewery like his father, also John. Even as a 15 year-old, John jnr. is described as a "brewer's traveller" in a directory of 1852, at which time the family lived at 82 Norfolk Street. By 1855 young John was described as a "manufacturer of cordials", one of his products being black beer (which, mixed with lemonade, became the refreshing drink known as "Sheffield stout"). From a small factory in Arundel Street, John Wheatley moved first to Division Street and then to the much larger premises in Napier Street. By 1895 his firm had merged with Bates & Co. to form Wheatley & Bates. John Wheatley entered public life and was Lord Mayor of Sheffield in 1903-04, by which time Wheatley & Bates also had a branch in Dublin, Ireland. In 1903 they took over the large retail outlet of James Haynes, wine & spirit merchants of 13-17 The Wicker and they ran this business (as part of a chain of off-licences) until the late 1930s when they converted the building into the Big Gun Hotel. In the latter part of the 19th century they were large-scale producers of "hop bitters", that is, refreshing, non-alcoholic drinks with a base of hops, dandelion etc. One of the firm's most popular products a century ago was "Stym", a form of hop bitters. They evidently produced 200 barrels per day of this "Highly successful non-intoxicating substitute for ordinary ale", using water from their "own artesian wells".

 

In 2005 I wrote an article about the firm, based on some of their publicity postcards that I happened to have, for the magazine Picture Postcard Monthly. Here are scans of the article - first page..second page (click to enlarge). Here is a Wheatley & Bates label.

Edited December 11, 2015 by hillsbro

[beechnut]

Hi Hillsboro - my grandfather worked for Wheatley & Bates in the 1930s making deliveries. He had an allotment where we used to go at weekends in the 1950s, and I remember he had some stone flagons there with the name Wheatley & Bates on them, which he used for storage. I imagine there would also have been Wheatley & Bates bottles with their name moulded in the glass - these would be collector's items nowadays I suppose!

[old tup]

Hi Hillsboro my first job on leaving school in 1959 was for a similar firm Leonard Goddard and sons at Burnell Road in your area!.It was a shock to the system,donkey work,I couldn't get away quick enough!.

[hillsbro]

Hi beechnut and old tup - thanks for your input. I well remember Goddard's on Burnell Road, and it’s interesting to know about the Wheatley & Bates flagons. I just did a web search and found a photo of one, here it is.

 

I understand that when Wheatley & Bates sold up they had five or six pubs (when I learned that they ran the Big Gun Hotel and several off-licences I looked for Wheatley & Bates pubs in directories, but their name was evidently not included in the directory entries). But this afternoon I was told that one of their pubs was the Queen’s Arms at Taddington, and I’ve been given the text of an article entitled "Memories of the Queen’s Arms". Here it is:

 

An onsite brewery would not be the Queens Arms' first connection with the brewing industry.

 

The landlord around 20 years ago was Malcolm Wheatley, who unfortunately died around 15 years ago. Malcolm had previously worked for the family business "Wheatley & Bates", who ran the Dantzig Brewery on Napier Street, directly behind Ward's. John Wheatley founded the company in the early 19th century, in a small brewery close to the Cask & Cutler. They later moved to Napier Street as part of a company expansion. In its latter years the brewery was more famous for its Hop Bitters and soda syphons than any beer it brewed, and the major part of the business was bottling beers for other breweries. It was the latter activity that made them a takeover target for Hope & Anchor Breweries in 1946, when any type of mechanical plant was in short supply.

 

After the brewery closed Malcolm inherited the recipe for the non-alcoholic Hop Bitters, and around 1980 was in negotiation to set up a brewery (if that is the right word) to supply the stuff to Saudi Arabia. Although I believe a few trial brews were made, he died before anything substantial came to fruition. It is great to think that a proper "beer" brewery is to be built in the pub that he and his wife ran for years. Perhaps an appropriate beer name would be Dantzig Bitter.

 

The "small brewery close to the Cask & Cutler" would be the Henry Street one I had found mentioned in records (but which doesn't seem to be listed in directories).

 

Delving a little further into my "Sheffield-related ephemera" collection I've found a coloured version of the monochrome postcard illustrated in my Picture Postcard Monthly article - here is a scan.

[foxy lady]

If you ever go to one of the "food market" days at the Abbeydale Cinema the place still has the fire curtain that was around from it's hey-day. There is a large advert for Wheatley & Bates on the curtain. I have a rather good photo if you would like to download it.

 

Edited December 12, 2015 by foxy lady

[hillsbro]

Thanks a lot foxy lady! Another item to add to my growing Wheatley & Bates collection! I also looked on eBay and found an old Wheatley & Bates bottle - see here. I might just be tempted!

[scousemouse]

My family knew the Wheatleys very well! My father and Malcolm were friends, I went to schollwith his daughter, and Malcolms parents Stan and Molly lived opposite my Gran!¬ Gran and 'Auntie Molly were very close.

 

I also remember gran having stone bottles that she used as hot water bottles with the Wheatley and Bates name stamped on them!

 

I remember Stan as being a bit of a joker! He would go up behing people and grab thier ankles and bark like a dog!!!!! Didn't go down too well with some, but it always made me laugh, but then as a youngster of probably well under ten, it would!

[hillsbro]

Hi scousemouse - it's very nice to have your recollections. Now that I know Malcolm's father's name I may be able to reconstruct part of the family tree (I somehow couldn't find Malcolm in BMD records). I did find a Stanley H. Wheatley [1894-1964], who was John R. Wheatley's grandson via his son Edgar Howgate Wheatley [1863-1938]. The 1901 census finds John Wheatley and his family at Sharrow Lodge. This stately residence was sadly demolished around 1930, but it was on Sharrow Lane (where Huntingdon Crescent is now) and would have been quite handy for the Napier Street brewery!

Edited December 14, 2015 by hillsbro

[gmarshman]

I knew Malcolm Wheatley well for many years, and did in fact visit his pub in Taddington, near Buxton on many occasions in the late 60 early 70's , before he unfortunately died. Malcolm was a personable charactor and enjoyed his company.

I also worked at Pnuematic Components late 1960's ,where he was Buyer , when they were on Eyre Street , Sheffield.

[DUFFEMS]

Hi hillsbro, if you look here there are several references to the company/individuals in their Directories:

http://www.sheffieldindexers.com/DirectoriesIndex.html

Regards,

Duffems