Cains Brewery

Cains Brewery in the early evening

The Cains brewery was founded by Irishman Robert Cain in 1858 when he bought an established brewery. Cain had begun his brewing career aged 24 when he purchased a pub and brewed his own ales.

Within 25 years of founding his brewery, Cain had established 200 pubs, including the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, the Vines and the Central Commercial Hotel, which are currently listed as being of architectural merit. His personal mansion had each window arch inscribed with his monogram. In 1887 construction began on a second brewery.

In 1921, 14 years after Cain's death, the Cains brewery merged with Walkers of Warrington, becoming Walker Cains. Then in 1923 the original Stanhope Street Brewery was sold to Higsons, who continued to brew Cains ales.

In 1985, Higsons was bought by Boddingtons of Manchester. Five years later Boddingtons opted to concentrate on pub ownership and sold all its breweries to Whitbread, at which point the Stanhope Street site was closed.

The Stanhope site with its modern canning lines had been heavily invested in under Boddingtons' ownership and appeared an attractive asset. It was acquired by the previous owners of Gee Bee Soft Drinks who had sold that business to Princes. The new owners re-established the business under the Robert Cain brand but most of their production was focused on production for supermarkets.

Viewing Cains as a route into the UK market, Faxe Bryggeri A/S (now Royal Unibrew) then acquired the company and invested in its ales and local pubs. Unlike its larger competitor Carlsberg, Faxe failed to crack the UK market and put Cains up for sale in 2002.

Cains was acquired in 2002 by the Dusanj brothers making them the first Asian owners of a British brewery. At the time it had a turnover of £30 million, it took just over ten years for it to go into administration with debts, indicating a loss of £38 million - sinking over £3.5 million per year.

In June 2007, a reverse takeover of AIM-listed pub operator Honeycombe Leisure plc was agreed by the company's board, giving Cains access to Honeycombe's 109 outlets and a stock market listing. The company was renamed Cains Beer Company PLC and, like Cains Brewery, ceased to function and accrued insurmountable debts within a year.

On 7 August 2008 the company was placed in administration due to unpaid tax and other debts amounting to £38 million, despite its annual turnover of £65.5 million. Negotiations with its bank failed to reach a conclusion that would have avoided administration. The brewery and eight original pubs were bought back by the Dusanj brothers for £103,750. As the Dusanji family holds the freehold to the Brewery site and controls the terms of any lease for brewery operation, no other buyer could be found.

In April 2013, Cains announced it would be ending contract brewing and production of supermarket beers. A month later, it said it would cease brewing altogether and find a contract brewer for its beers. 38 staff were made redundant.[3] In the same month, Liverpool CAMRA reported that Cains was down to an estate of three pubs – the Brewery Tap, Dr Duncan's and The Dispensary.[4] However, a 2015 news articles state that Cains still has an estate of five pubs. The additional two pubs are thought to be the two out-of-town pubs Kelly's Dispensary in Smithdown Road and The Edinburgh in Wavertree.[5]

In the summer of 2013, Cains announced a redevelopment of the site for leisure and housing with a small craft brewery proposed to continue the Cains ales.[6]

In January 2014, Cains was reported to have arranged for small quantities of its beers to be contract-brewed for export and sale in its small pub estate. The contract brewery was not cited.[7]

Liverpool City Council granted planning permission for what was to become known as the Cains Brewery Village in November 2013. This was described as a tourism, leisure and retail attraction. The million square foot site would have included a 94-bedroom hotel, cinema, bistro bar, restaurants and an open-plan retail hall for artisan food producers.[8][9]

June 2014 saw potential tenant Baltic Yards Ltd's plans unveiled for a Sunday market in Brewery Village. Baltic Yards was described as being an urban bazaar.[10] However, the company failed to get off the ground and was dissolved in November 2015.[11]

A food hall was opened on the site in June 2017. Open four times a week and operated by Baltic Markets, the venue offers food, drink, entertainment and live events.[12]

Plans were announced in July 2018 for a £7 million refurbishment of the brewery building. The plans include restarting brewing of beer on the site as well as the creation of two bars, a food market and music venue.[13]

It was announced in April 2022 that brewing would be recommencing at the site in the spring of 2022.[14] Mikhail, a company that owns several pubs and hotels in the north-west, intend to start brewing Cain's beer using the original recipes and eventually hope to employ forty staff at the site.

• Christopher Routledge,Cain's: The Story of Liverpool in a Pint, (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008). ISBN 978-1-84631-150-5

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cain's Brewery, Liverpool.

• Official Cains Brewery Website (archived)
• Official Brewery Village Website