Kine' Brewery
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Bottles discovered
In October 1976 a number of bottles were found in the roof space of a wash-house at Les Ruettes, St Saviour, among them being some marked Kine's Brewing Co Ltd. One of the bottles is now at the Pier Road Museum, and here follows a short history of the brewery so far as the name Kine is concerned.
Originally Andrews' Springfield Brewery, the brewery premises were at 7 Springfield Terrace, Trinity Road. The business of Kine's Old Springfield Brewery was established there in 1857 by Thomas Kine who, with his brother William, bought the premises in 1872 from the Andrews family. The Jersey Express Almanac for 1865, which shows Thomas Kine as a brewer carrying on business in Trinity Road, also shows Z Banks as carrying on business at the New Springfield Brewery, 3 Trinity Road, and this is probably why Kine's Brewery took the name of the Old Springfield Brewery.
The Kines feature in Hill's Historical Almanac of the Channel Islands, from which one gathers that Thomas Kine was also a manufacturer of soda water, lemonade and ginger beer, as well as a billiard room proprietor. His addresses are given as 37 La Motte Street and 8 Charing Cross.
Brothers sell out
In 1877 Thomas sold his half share of the brewery premises to William and in 1891 William sold out to Francois Le Sueur. Though the Kines disappeared from the scene, their name was retained when the premises were leased under the name of Kine's Old Springfield Brewery in 1909 for 14 years to a newly-formed company, Kine's Brewing Co Ltd.
The venture did not last for long. An agreement with the creditors was reached in 1912 and the business was taken over by a new Company, Kine's Brewing Company (1912) Ltd, of which Mr Fred Clarke, of C Le Masurier Ltd, was a founder member. The lease of 7 Springfield Terrace was cancelled in 1913, and printed labels on the bottles show that they came to be used for Hills and Underwood's table vinegar.
The bottles are of the internal screw stopper type and the description of the brewery embossed on them shows clearly that they were made for the company formed in 1909. In the Shire Album Bottles and Bottle Collecting by A A C Hodges, bottles of this type are said to date from about 1910, so that these bottles must be among the very earliest of their kind. Unfortunately, no screw stoppers were found with them.
History from Jersey Heritage
For at least 175 years, Trinity Road has been the location of the Robin Hood Inn. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was also home to two local breweries, the Old Springfield or Kine’s Brewery at 7 Trinity Road and the New Springfield Brewery located next to the Robin Hood.
Charles Alexandre purchased the Robin Hood in 1835, and by 1857 he had established the New Springfield Brewery, which was advertised in the Jersey Independent and Daily Telegraph that year:
- 'Charles Alexandre, proprietor of the brewery, most respectfully informs the gentry, the trade and the public in general, that he has now completed, at a considerable outlay, the above premises, with every modern improvement in brewing, and is fully prepared to furnish the trade and private families with a pure, wholesome and unadulterated beverage in ales and porter.'
Orders could be taken at the Old Robin Hood tavern, adjoining the Brewery.
According to the Jersey Almanac for 1863, Zephaniah Banks was the brewer at the New Springfield Brewery. He was one of seven brewers listed in St Helier at the time and was selling a variety of ales, stouts and porters, with his cheapest product being a table beer available for 6 pence a gallon.
A decade later, the Almanac shows Albert B Seymour had become the brewer at the New Springfield Brewery. In 1881 Seymour was fined by St Helier’s Roads Committee for the non-removal of a signboard over his brewery. He contested the right of the committee to order the removal of the sign but the judge overruled his plea and ordered him to pay the 5-shilling fine and remove the sign immediately.
The following year, Seymour decided to join the other side of the legal system and was elected as a Centenier for St Helier. His time as a Centenier appears to have been full of controversy. In August 1883, he was accused of using unnecessary violence while making an arrest and making a false statement.
In 1884 he was charged with contempt of Court having voted at a Parish meeting while he was suspended from his functions as Centenier. In 1889 he left Jersey to run a brewery in Lille, where he was convicted of embezzlement and fraud.
Practically alongside the New Springfield Brewery at 7 Trinity Road was the Old Springfield Brewery, which became Kine’s British Home Brewed Ale Brewery. West of England Fire Insurance Registers from July 1847 show that Mary Ann Fowle insured a brewery and malt house with a kiln, called the Springfield Brewery. She had purchased the brewery in 1847. It was originally run by John Andrews, her brother-in-law. By 1857 the Kine family’s involvement with the brewery can be seen in an advert for Kine’s British Home Brewed Ale Brewery, previously the Old Springfield Brewery in Springfield Terrace.
According to the advert, home-brewed ales could be purchased at stores in Charing Cross, Charles Street and at the brewery. It also promoted the opening dinner of the establishment, which was due to take place in the early spring under canvas in the brew house yard (weather permitting). Invitation cards were to be issued to 50 of the aged inmates of the General Hospital.
The Kine family eventually purchased the brewery and remained the owners until 1891, when it was acquired by Francis Le Sueur. Records from 1892 show that he insured a brewery called the Old Springfield Brewery and the building, which included the engine and engine house, fixtures and stock in trade, including malt, hops, tuns, casks, office furniture and fittings.
Le Sueur retained the name of Kine’s Old Springfield Brewery until 1912, when the business was taken over by Kine’s Brewing Company. The following year 7 Trinity Road, with the brewery and outbuildings, was sold to Ann Street Brewery.
Before it was sold, the Jersey Times of August 1909 includes a description of a tour of Kine’s Brewing Company at Springfield, explaining that the brewery used the finest Eastern Countries malted barley and Kent hops and that there were no chemicals of any kind being used for the manufacture of the beer. There were also details about the water supply:
- 'The water is obtained from an artesian bore from which 1,000 gallons are pumped per hour; the well is practically inexhaustible and there need be no fear of the supply of water, ceasing whatever may be the quantities of beer required.'
During the 20th century the owners of 7 Trinity Road, also known as Cherry Lodge, included Arthur Forster, husband of Ivy Forster, Jersey’s first female States Member. It was while the couple lived at Trinity Road that she was first elected as Deputy of St Helier.
