Museums help to preserve heritage brewery vehicles

An old fashioned red fire truck, with three old black helmets on top of it, on display in a museum. It appears largely wooden, with large cartwheels. It also has a ladder attachedImage source, WMFS
Image caption,

The horse-drawn fire truck will be displayed at the West Midlands Fire Service Heritage Museum

  • Published

Two vehicles originally built for a brewery firm have been taken on by museums in an effort to preserve them.

A Victorian horse-drawn fire truck, known as a Water Witch, has been delivered to the West Midlands Fire Service Heritage Museum in Aston, Birmingham.

It was made in 1879 for Mitchells and Butlers Brewery, based in Cape Hill, Smethwick, and had been part of the National Brewery Heritage Trust's collection.

The vehicle will be displayed alongside the fire service museum's other appliances, which include a steamer, trailer pumps and hose carts, in a purpose-built garage.

Meanwhile, the National Brewery Heritage Trust, based in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, has transferred a 1949 Leyland Beaver delivery dray, also built for Mitchells and Butlers, to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.

The motorised dray, which was part of the firm's delivery fleet, was built at a time when breweries were moving away from horse-drawn drays, the trust said.

An old blue delivery truck parked at the side of a street. It has a sign above the windscreen that says Mitchells and Butlers. Wooden barrels have been placed in the bed of the truck.Image source, Black Country Living Museum
Image caption,

A 1949 Leyland Beaver delivery dray has been transferred to Black Country Living Museum

Dr Harry White, chairman of the trust, said the transfer of the vehicles would help to preserve them and keep them accessible to the public.

"I am pleased that vehicles that worked at the Cape Hill Brewery for so many years will be going back to their roots," he added.

Get in touch

Tell us which stories we should cover in Birmingham and the Black Country