Malt house choked by grip of economic reality

IT’S the end of an era for the last malt house in Devon. Tuckers Maltings in Newton Abbot was one of only four traditional malt houses left in the UK and it has now finally closed.

Richard Wheeler, malt house director, said: “It’s a sad day. At the moment we are so busy clearing out, I don’t think it will really hit us until next week.”

Mr Wheeler, 76, has worked at Tuckers Maltings his whole life, starting aged 17.

Purpose built by the railway at the turn of the century, it was one of the oldest in the country where all of the production was done by hand.

For more than 100 years here, grain has been converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop for use in the brewing industry.

Eight members of staff have been made redundant by the closure.

He said: “Some of them have secured other jobs and I hope that in a year’s time all of them will be flying high in whatever they choose to do next. As for me, I’m well past retiring age so I think I’ll have a well earned break.”

Tuckers Maltings is part of the Tuckers agricultural supplies firm, which was set up in 1831.

The maltings has been running since 1900 and counted Guinness among its first customers.

It has supplied more than 30 breweries in the South West and the last ever bags of barley malt produced there were sold to Teignworthy Brewery, its neighbours at Teign Road in Newton Abbot.

Mr Wheeler explained the closure was down to the difficulties in staying competitive while continu-

Richard Wheeler takes samples from the kiln where the barley is dried ing to produce malt in small-scale traditional way.

He said: “The large national operations can undercut us by miles.

“We are too small and do things the old-fashioned way which pushes the prices up and it is difficult for our customers to pay a premium for their raw ingredients.

“It’s like shopping at Amazon instead of the small independent shops, we are all guilty of it.”

Mr Wheeler said a resurgence in micro-breweries and craft ales had been keeping the malthouse going for the past 20 years but big-scale economics has been the winner in the end.

The Maltings

taphouse

the

and Teignworthy Brewery will continue to trade as normal.

The nearest traditional malthouse is in Warminster in Wiltshire.

It uses the same traditional floor method but on a larger scale and sources barley from the same area of the South West and in some cases the same growers.

Mr Wheeler said: “We have managed 118 years which is not at all bad.

“I know that our customers are very disappointed to see us go but we have to face the facts of life.”

Production finished at the malthouse earlier this month.

Now the Grade II-listed building will be put on the market.

Uses of the building will be subject to planning consent, but it could be renovated for housing.

In addition to supplying the brewing industry, Tuckers also opened its premises as a popular tourist attraction, since 1991, and hosted the annual Tuckers Maltings Beer Festival.

The festival has been saved and will take place in a new venue next year.

The team behind the Maltings Beer Festival, which attracts hundreds of real ale enthusiasts to the town every year, have vowed to keep the ‘Tuckers’ name alive with a revamped beer festival in a new location from 2019 onwards.

Picture: RICHARD AUSTIN