Island Green () is a historic brewing site in Wrexham city centre, North Wales, home to the former site of the Island Green Brewery. Following the closure of the brewery in 1931, and the abandonment of the site in the 1970s, the area was converted into a retail park in 1999, containing Wrexham Central railway station, as well as residences which utilised the former brewery buildings.
History
By 1841, there was a mansion and estate known as Island Green, in a meadow on the River Gwenfro to the west of the town. The hall was taken over by a brewery following the death of the hall's owner John Bennion. The takeover of the building by the brewery in 1850 was coincided with a decline in the mansion's status as part of a high status area, although it partly regained the status by 1851. The estate also housed a significant (28.9 per cent) Irish-born population, which also grew between 1841 and 1851.
Formation of the Island Green Brewery
The Island Green Malthouse and Brewery was founded in 1856 by the brothers Williams and John Jones. The two brothers were known locally, and their charitable trust later paid half of the construction of the Wrexham & East Denbighshire Memorial Hospital following World War I. The brewery was within a brick-built double courtyard range, which was later modified with additions in 1890. The brewery initially had a 16 quarter brewhouse and 32 quarter maltings, with one quarter being 8 bushels of barley which would've produced an average of of beer. The original buildings were of red-brick with dentil eaves, and slate roofs with reticulated keystone to brick voussoirs and stone plinth. The River Gwenfro runs next to the site, while at the end of Brewery Place.
The name of the brewery is from the nearby Island Green House, later demolished in the 1880s.
On 16 December 1869, the brothers had offered a barrel of ale to the occupants of a local workhouse for Christmas, but such offer was rejected. A board member of the Wrexham Board of Guardians had rejected the offer, as he could do with no ale with his roast beef and plum pudding, and did not see how the paupers would need ale with theirs. Two board members were in favour of the gift, but previous canvassing had indicated 127 inmates of the house were opposed to beer at Christmas compared to 53 in favour. A fund of providing was set up instead to provide Christmas treats for the inmates.
In November 1873, through the Wrexham and Denbigh Weekly Advertiser, a tenant of a local farm requested the brewery reduce their in-take of brook water by their brewery's main sewer, as the over-dilution of the sewage and the excess sand it brought with the brook water became "very embarrassing" to the tenant. The brewery did not respond, although the tenant expressed their intention to re-lay the surface pipes, that would've needed to be done to tackle the issue.
One of the founders, William Jones died in 1904.
On 12 October 1905, the brewery was put up for sale at an auction in Birmingham. At the time, the brewery included a 16-quarter plant, 54-quarter maltings, stores, stabling, cottages and land. The sale was accompanied with 21 licensed houses and other properties including a leasehold licensed house. The extra properties were "easy road delivery distance" from the brewery, six being within Wrexham and 15 in Wrexham District. They produced in rent per year. The sale was held for "the winding up of [the] estate" and concerns over the increasing old age of John Jones, the last surviving owner of the brewery.
On the following day, 13 October 1905, the brewery had been sold to Francis Osmond Joseph Huntley of Gloucestershire for , who is said to have partnered under "Huntley & Mowat".
John Jones, the other founder, died in 1913.
In 1927, the brewery purchased the Union Brewery, a brewery first established in 1840 by Charles Bate and Son in the Union Tavern on the edge of Mount Street and Yorke Street, and later moved to Bridge Street.
Closure and post-brewery development
In 1931, the brewery merged with Soames Brewery of Wrexham and Dorsett Owen of Oswestry to form Border Breweries, with production centred on the Tuttle Street site (near the Nags Head and contains the brewery's landmark chimney) with brewing ceasing on the Island Green site shortly after the merger.
The old Island Green brewery's buildings later became a warehouse, and by 1937 it was a creamery. In the 1970s the site closed down and fell into dereliction.
The former Island Green Brewery, including its former malthouse, were listed as Grade II buildings on 9 July 1981.