History
The History of Everards
The Founder
William Everard founded Everards Brewery in 1849. He brewed Everards ales in Southgate Street, Leicester and they became so well liked he expanded the business and bought some pubs in the area.
Everards ales became very popular and William built an up to date brewery in Southgate Street that opened in 1875 to replace the old brewery.
Burton on Trent
In 1892 William decided to move to Burton on Trent, as the most successful ales of the time were brewed using Burton water due to its unique combination of salts and minerals. Everards ales proved even more popular when made with Burton water and both the brewing and pub side of the business continued to grow.
Sadly William died the same year the brewery moved to Burton, but his son Thomas took on the business. Over the next ninety six years Thomas Everard was succeeded by first Sir Lindsay Everard in 1925 and then Tony Everard in 1949. Richard Everard, who is the current Chairman, took over the running of the business in 1988.
In 1979 Tony made the decision to move back to Leicester. Technology had improved and water could be ‘Burtonised’ so the beer produced from it would taste the same as if it had been brewed in Burton.
Castle Acres
The new brewery and office block was opened in 1985 and it was expanded in 1990 so that all Everards ales could be brewed in Leicestershire as they originally were.
During all this time the Everards pub estate was expanding and in 2002 all the managed houses that were run by the brewery were converted to tenancies, where the pubs are run as individual businesses by the licensees rather than by the brewery.
Today Everards owns over 170 pubs in 12 counties and the brewery has the capacity to produce over 65,000 barrels (18,720,000 pints) a year.