Tales from the Tavern – two Windsor Castles and a doctor
Benjamin Sadler advertised a collection of stuffed beasts, reptiles and birds
THE Windsor Castle on the corner of Stourbridge Road and Pedmore Road, Lye, has been the tap-house for Sadler’s beers for several years.
Previously a printworks, the building first opened as the tap-house for Sadler’s Windsor Castle Brewery in 2004.
But there’s a lot more to the history of Sadlers and their beers.
The story starts in 1862 when Benjamin Sadler acquired the Windsor Castle in Brades Road, Rounds Green, Oldbury. The pub was originally built in 1850 by Benjamin Foster, who employed his son, coal miner Joseph, with his wife, Ann, to run it until 1861.
The Sadler family bought the pub in 1862 and owned it until 1927, with licensees Benjamin and Nathaniel Sadler, with his wife, Anne, followed by William and Harriet Timmins.
The Windsor Castle was home to John Sadler (the “Grand Old Man of Oldbury”), and where Nathaniel Sadler established his brewery. By 1862, Benjamin Sadler was advertising his collection of stuffed beasts, reptiles and birds, including curiosities and freaks, such as cats with eight legs and lambs with two heads. He also purchased one of the largest mechanical continental steam organs, performing some of the popular and classical compositions of the day.
He later transferred his collection to the Old White Swan in Church Street, Oldbury until it was sold to North Worcestershire Breweries in 1897.
He took a deep interest in local charitable institutions and was a prominent figure in the Friendly Society movement, as well as serving on the Local Board of Health and Licensed Victuallers Association. In 1896, he sold his “Bird Show” to a local brewery company and retired to live in Warley until he died in March 1897, universally respected as one of the best-known men in Oldbury.
In 1900, Nathaniel Sadler built a new brewery in Dingle Street, around the corner from the Windsor Castle. Thomas Alexander Sadler took over the operation of the brewery in 1921, which at its height, was supplying twelve pubs owned by the Sadler family with “incomparable ale”.
The Windsor Castle was also used for meetings of miners and, in 1892 and 1894, the pub (also then known as the “Bird Show”) was put up for sale by auction.
Brewing ceased in 1927, when the pub and brewery was sold to Grigg & Brettell (Birmingham). The pub closed in 1956, and its licence was transferred to the new Beeches pub in Bristnall Hall Road, Oldbury.
Continuing into the early 1980s, Jack and John Sadler started their family printing and publishing business at 7 Stourbridge Road, Lye. In 2004, son and grandson, John and Christopher Sadler, recalled their family’s brewing heritage by converting the former printworks into the Windsor Castle pub and brewery, which became home to Sadler’s Peaky Blinder ales.
In May 2008, the pub was visited by Oz Clarke and James May, featuring in their BBC2 television programme, “Oz & James Drink to Britain”.
While James served behind the bar, Oz commented that “I had the best mild I’ve had for a number of years: really proper West Midlands Black Country mild – like a cappuccino with streaks of chocolate and toffee colour running through it”.
A few years later, the brewery moved to Conyers Trading Estate, nearer to the railway station, where a new taproom was opened in March 2015, complete with a new Sadler’s Brewhouse, at a cost of £500,000.
Tours around the brewery were also offered and the brewery was later extended. However, in 2017, Halewood International, a Merseyside drinks-maker and distributor, bought a majority stake in Sadler’s and fully took over the brewery in June 2019. At the time, they said that “Sadler’s Ales will continue to operate independently”.
This did happen, at least until January 2020, when Halewood announced that “after thorough consultation and extensive review, a decision has been made to close the Sadler’s brewery site at Lye”. Around 25 people were made redundant and Sadler’s beers, including the iconic Peaky Blinder ale, would be brewed at Hawkshead Brewery at Staveley, near Kendal in the Lake District.
At the time, a spokesman for the local CAMRA branch said, “This is a devastating blow, not only for the hard-working employees at Lye, but also for the traditions of local brewing in the Black Country. This decision will rip the heart and soul out of Peaky Blinder beers whose spiritual home is in the Black Country”.
However, all was not lost, since in 2019 Emily Sadler and her partner Gareth recommenced brewing, assisted by former brewer, John Sadler, back at the Windsor Castle. They renamed it as the Printworks Brewery, following in the footsteps of Emily’s great, great-grandfather, Thomas Sadler, and reflecting the family’s printing heritage.
In fact, most of their beers are named after printers’ typefaces, such as Verdana, Helvetica and Geneva. In another quirk of fate, in March 2020, Printworks’ beers featured in a “tap-takeover” at the Queens Head in Enville Street, Stourbridge, once home to Edward Rutland’s brewery in the late 1880s.
A further accolade occurred in March 2022, when Printworks were invited to the Houses of Parliament to attend an All-party Parliamentary tasting of beers brewed with English hops, including their own Geneva IPA.
Gareth and Emily enjoy brewing a
selection of cask ales, full of flavour from some of the best English hops and malt. They continue to brew their range of Printworks beers, including limited edition beers such as Letterpress Chocolate Mini Egg Stout, Baskerville Blood Orange Ale (for Hallowe’en), Gunpowder Ember Ale (for Bonfire Night) and Navidad Christmas Ale.
Not only are tours of the brewery available, but they also offer gintasting and blending experiences in Dr Hardwicke’s art-deco inspired Gin & Cocktail Emporium.
Dr Edwin Webster Hardwicke was a well-respected and muchloved doctor for forty years, living at Lye Cross. Inspired by his father’s profession as a practising botanist and herbalist, he became a local legend, going through the streets of Lye on his horse and trap, helping the poor and needy with his experimental medicines.
He was also the father of Lyeborn Sir Cedric Hardwicke, one of Hollywood’s great character actors of the 1930s, who played in such iconic films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Ghost of Frankenstein.
In 1934, at the age of 41, he was the youngest theatrical performer to have been knighted by King George V. His son, Edward, also became an actor and played Dr Watson alongside Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes. He was guest of honour at the opening of the Hardwicke Theatre at Thorns Community College, opened in November 2010 to honour the memory of Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
The Windsor Castle not only serves a range of Printworks beers and local gins, but is also popular for tasty, home-cooked meals, including Sunday roast dinners and pies. Their beers are also available in other pubs, restaurants, farm shops and other outlets across the West Midlands, and Printworks also attend local events, such as Hagley Village Market.
Both the pub and the brewery have recently been put up for sale.
Long may they prosper!