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Non-believers in traditional beers are convinced that such brews do not travel well, but one West Yorkshire brewer proves otherwise
Words / Images: Bryan Jarvis
Traditional beers used to be rather unpredictable, especially after they’d been delivered over long distances and in extreme weather. However, Keighley brewer Timothy Taylor is using the latest transport technology to ensure its string of award-winning beers arrive at pubs across the nation in the best thirstquenching condition.
Transport manager Paul Marklew says: “It’s not fair to say that traditional beers don’t travel. We’ve been brewing here since the mid-1860s and the increasing popularity of our beers, especially Landlord, is proof enough.” The continued expansion of this family-owned company spans three centuries, from the ale house breweries of the 1860s, through to Victorian times and two World Wars to the present day. “We’ve progressed from the small family brewery that regarded cross-Pennine deliveries into Lancashire as valuable exports,” says Marklew.
The brewery’s sales volumes might not trouble the large multi-nationals, but canny investments have seen them double in the past 11 years. “We’ve also picked up one or two unexpected high-profile endorsements along the way,” says Marklew, a reference to pop diva Madonna’s stated preference for draught Landlord and TV chef Anthony Worrall-Thompson’s and actor Hugh Grant’s taste for the bottled version.
Today, with a 26-strong pub chain spanning Yorkshire and Lancashire and many thirsty customers nationwide, the company goes to great lengths to ensure its range of brews are delivered to watering holes in the best of condition, regardless of location.
Climate variations
From the early horse-drawn drays, the company has adapted its methods of transport to take account of the growth in trade and climate change. Undoubtedly, seasonal variations used to make the job of getting the beer into an increasing number of RDCs and pubs at the right temperature a challenge, but not any more. Some years ago, the brewery experimented with temperaturecontrolled vehicles to overcome the problems. Initially, it adapted an ageing six-wheeled rigid dray, equipping it with a refrigeration unit and insulating the curtainsided bodywork. A lengthy trial period showed that the brew retained its tasty characteristics in the hottest of summers, whatever the distance.
However, winter weather with temperatures down to -8oC tend to give some beers a cloudy appearance, but using body heaters ensures the beers travel at the ideal cellar temperature of 11˚C. The trial proved so successful that the brewery’s entire trunking fleet is equipped with a temperature-sensitive body system, ensuring its traditional ales arrive at more than 60 RDCs in a chilled condition.
Fleet renewal
To keep pace with the extensive developments at its brewery and present the right image during deliveries, the older MAN and ERF drays have mostly been replaced with Scanias. Marklew says they are more costly but have a stylish quality that drivers favour; and backed by the maker’s R&M packages, their high residuals give an excellent return on investment.
“We buy them outright, run them for six years and replace with new,” he says.
They are all high-spec units with kitchen packs and sound systems in the sleeper cabs, ideal for drivers spending nights out.
There are six 44-tonne Scania 480hp tractors, with matching curtainsided reefer trailers – Don-Bur and SDC are preferred suppliers – and all have Carrier temperaturecontrol systems.
There is also a Scania Topline drawbar unit with tri-axle trailer and a pair of Scania 18-tonners equipped by Aire Truck Bodies, Leeds. All have secondary internal curtains for securing full loads, along with separate nappy-like mesh sheets for wrapping around smaller orders.
“We considered Mercedes-Benz’s six-wheeled rigid,” says Marklew, “but at the time, it didn’t supply a drive system for the fridge unit, so we’ve stuck with Scania for the time being.” A pair of ageing Iveco 6.5-tonners are used to haul smaller loads to Timothy Taylor’s public houses in the Yorkshire Dales and across the Pennines. However, it is also trialling a Euro-5 Actros 2546 on its various weekly routes and the unit is returning more than 9mpg, impressing both manager and drivers alike.
Northside Mercedes-Benz in Bradford supplied and maintains the Actros; the Scanias are all serviced at the Skipton dealership and the two Ivecos are looked after by Northern Commercials.
Delivery routines
The Actros’s southern drops begin in Essex, first at Greenford, then Dagenham, two in Croydon, Salfords near Redhill, Uckfield, and finally Eastbourne. For the other vehicles, the week is split in half: the first is the Scottish run, which begins in Durham, Washington and Felling, before travelling over the border to Dunbar and Livingstone, and returning via Appleton Thorn, Haydock and Warrington.
Another laden artic heads for Burton-on-Trent, Chesterfield, Leicester and several East Midland depots, while a third delivers directly to London. This one is usually back first, ahead of the Eastbourne vehicle, which allows plenty of time to reload for the second run of the week.
But so critical is the beer’s condition that every stage of delivery is monitored, from the brewery to the warehouse, through to final delivery. Even the drivers’ routines can be checked via their digitachs, just in case there is a problem with a particular batch. ■
THE TRANSPORT MANAGER
Ex-serviceman Marklew started working for the company 18 years ago, beginning as a regular drayman and progressing to transport manager and then a seat on the executive committee.
The transport section bunkers its own 30,000-litre diesel supply, which allows for about two months’ running, and swaps between four fuel distributors to secure the best price. “All our vehicles have large enough tanks to ensure we don’t have to buy fuel outside of the depot,” says Marklew.
His biggest worry is not just the likely 3ppl fuel duty hike in August. “Despite the government’s recent suspension of fuel duty increases in the past 12 months, by the time manufacturers and distributors have added their increased charges, we could be looking at a crippling rise in diesel prices by the end of the next financial year,” he says.
Transport distribution is an essential part of the brewing business, but it’s fraught with an endless amount of bureaucracy and legislation. “Thankfully,” says Marklew, “we have a good support team here, from top to bottom.” With foreign vehicles arriving in the UK with their tanks full and paying nothing by way of road taxes, he feels the government is allowing the UK’s logistics industry to be picked off. “It seems unable or unwilling to realise that without this industry the country would come to a standstill,” he says.
BREWERY INVESTMENT
Since 1998, Timothy Taylor has invested nearly £15m in the brewery. It has expanded its brew house, adding a new boiler, fermentation vessels and cask-washing equipment and, as demand increased for bottled and cask-conditioned beers, it expanded yearly to meet demand. Three years ago, the company bought a disused foundry site and converted it into a storage and transport depot.
The new depot allows unrestricted manoeuvring to offload empties and is protected by security and surveillance systems. Beer is loaded according to the drop sequence and secured for transit before checking off the axle and all-up weight. The vehicles are garaged with their fridge and heating units plugged into the mains, ready for next-day deliveries, to ensure the correct temperature for perfect beer.