VAIN’S BREWERY

Charlotte Place

Brewing started           Late 1820s?

Brewing cased             1835

I cannot find Edward Vain (aka Vane) in directories, but in newspapers of 6th June 1835 there is a report that Edward Vane kept a brewery at Charlotte Place. In November 1835, there are reports of the the bankruptcy of Edward Vain of St Marys, a common brewer and retailer of beer.

The Hampshire Advertiser of 9th January 1836 refers to Vain’s Bankruptcy, and a notice of sale by auction by his assignees of the “compact freehold brewery, dwelling house beer shop and premises together with excellent brewing plant, complete, situate in Charlotte Place Southampton near the proposed railway…” Also a quantity of good stale beer and several hogsheads of cider were for immediate sale. On 16th January there is reference to “the whole having been recently built” at a considerable expense.

On 5th March 1836, there is a second auction in 'Edward Vain’s bankruptcy' of what are described as premises being 100ft in depth and 30ft wide, and comprising a shop, parlour kitchen larder 4 bedrooms etc, a yard and garden. The premises were also “about 500 yards” from the intended railway line. There is no mention of a brewery.

On 30th April 1836, there was advertised an auction for about 25 hogsheads of good strong beer, 5 hogsheads of cider, a 5 pull beer engine with about 140ft of pipe, beer casks, drinking mugs tap room tables, a pair of trucks, a cart and about 80 other lots.

Clearly the brewery did not sell as on 13th August 1836 there appears another auction notice for the sale of 2 lots, first the brewery, dwelling house and beer shop, “lately in the occupation of the bankrupt” and second, the dwelling house, yard and outbuildings adjoining the brewery, which I assume are the same premsies as outlined on 5th March). 

It appears that the brewery was sold at some point as in November 1836, there is another auction notice for the sale of the dwelling and yard in Charlotte Place, adjoining Vain’s brewery, which was said to be  be within 300 yards of the proposed railway line. 

I do not know where this brewery was located. According to Sotonpedia, Charlotte Place is an early 19th century name for the group of streets comprising Bellevue Street, Northam Street, Compton Walk and Brunswick Terrace, and dates back to the 1820s. Charlotte Place car park now occupies the site. The premises were unlikely to be in Brunswick Terrace and were more likely to be at the Eastern end of the roads listed, and nearer the current railway line.

Tony Gallagher’s book ‘Southampton’s Inns and Taverns’ shows that the pubs/beerhouses listed in these roads were from the 1860s or 1870s, save for the Brewers Arms at 20 Compton Walk which was around in the 1840s, and became the Compton arms by 1870. This house was at the Eastern end and from the 1846 town map, and looks to be a ‘double’ frontage. From the scale, the properties in Compton Walk also look to have a depth of about 100ft so this may help narrow down its location.  See the 1846, and also the 1870 town plan attached, which is a little clearer. 

I am suggesting that Vain operated from a brewery at the back of the Brewers Arms but, dear reader, you can draw your own conclusions.

I also do not know how long Vain had been brewing but the buildings were ‘recently built’ in 1836. As seen earlier, Sotonpedia states that the Charlotte Place area dates back to the 1820s, and in the 1829 Town Guide, there is mention of newly erected cottages in Charlotte Place, so it seems reasonable to conclude that this brewery probably dates to the late 1820s, /early 1830s, and as part of that development.