Hotmog's Victorian Breweriana | Other Beer Pumps & Miscellaneous Breweriana

Homark clamp-on beer engine, 1950's/60's. The slimline "modern" shape porcelain handle is decorated in a typical 1950's swirl pattern in yellow, white and black on a green background with thin vertical white lines. Excepting the brass spout and shut-off tap, now replaced by the stainless steel "swan-neck", clamp-on beer engines of this design remain in common use today.

Another rare example of a late 19th century brass pillar counter pump with a white porcelain handle. Maker unknown, the only identifying mark is a hand with an 'X' on the palm on the tap-screw. An almost identical design appeared in W. R. Loftus's 1893 catalogue, priced at £2:15s, and in the 1899 catalogue of T. Heath.

Hudson, Dodsworth & Associates Ltd half pint measure dispenser with horizontally mounted glass cylinder, 1967. Operates via top pressure.

An earlier, probably mid-19th century, brass pillar counter pump by J. Warner & Sons with a white handle made of what appears to be transluscent glass. The spout is literally shaped to resemble a swan's head & neck.

Close-up of the maker's stamp and Royal coat-of-arms on the reverse of the pump, left, which suggests that Warner's had been granted the Royal Warrant to supply its wares. They also manufactured water pumps, hydraulic machinery, and cast church bells - including the original 16 ton bell commissioned for the Westminster Tower clock in 1856, which unfortunately cracked irreparably whilst under test in the Palace Yard at Westminster. The replacement Big Ben was cast by the Whitechapel Foundry using metal melted down from the original, and weighs 13.5 tons.

Coldflow "Spheromatic" half-pint measure dispenser from 1976. Similar to the Mills version, left, but with cube-shaped rather than cylindrical clear acrylic. Both have the same distinctive concentric ring design on the inner chamber, inside which is a rubber diaphragm that moves alternately one way, then the other, via top pressure as the tap is opened to deliver a measured half-pint.

A Victorian costrel. It holds about 4 pints and would have contained ale or cider. They were used by farm labourers working in the fields. This is the only one I have seen that is signed and dated; it has the initials WV EPM and the year 1893 carved into the top.

Victorian pub clock advertising "Waltham's Beer On Draught". The Waltham Brothers Brewery operated from 1851 to 1908 in Stockwell, London, having just 4 tied houses. The clock has a US Seth Thomas 8-day movement; the trademark design stamped on the backplate dates it to the 1880s. The black mark on the dial above the VI appears to be a deliberate feature of the advertising intended to suggest a tongue licking the lips in appreciation of the product.

Art Deco style marble mantel clock with a bakelite back, probably by Smith's, advertising Allsopp's beer - "Say Allsopp (picture of bottled IPA) and have the best". It dates from no later than June 1934, when Samuel Allsopp & Sons merged with Ind, Coope & Co Ltd to form Ind, Coope & Allsopp Ltd.

Advertising lithograph for Ind, Coope & Co's Burton Ale, showing Britannia with shield and trident. This trademark was registered to the company on 4 March 1876.

Tin-plate advertising mirror for Reid's Family Stout. An acid-etched inscription on the glass reads "Supplied by Marine Wine Vaults (next Marine Hotel)". I believe that refers to a location in Lowestoft, Suffolk. The mirror dates from between 1888 and July 1898, when Reid's merged with Watney & Co Ltd and Combe & Co Ltd to form Watney, Combe, Reid & Co Ltd.

Humorous Victorian postcard showing a cat and dog toasting each other at dinner with a glass of beer, bearing the caption "Beer, Beer, Glorious Beer".

Early pump clip advertising Union Beer. Blue enamel on silver-plated metal. An inscription around the edge reads "This food contains not more than 3/8 of a grain of salicylic acid to the pint". This declared that the product met the recommendations of a report published in 1901 by a Government Departmental Committee on the use of preservatives in foodstuffs.

Seltzogene, or Gasogene. It dates from the 1880s - 1890s, and was the precursor of the modern soda-syphon. Many were French, but this one is engraved "Boots, Cash Chemists" around the collar. Click here to see a sales brochure of the time describing the Seltzogene and its operation in detail.

Bass water jug made by William Brownfield of Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent. The base is stamped "BROWNFIELD", "BASS", "5/77" and "24", which dates it to May 1877. Manufactured from brown earthenware, it holds 1 pint and is decorated with a bizarre assortment of swimming barrels, drunken bottles and similar scenes. Indeed the face on the barrel could well have been the inspiration for "Thomas The Tank Engine"!

A larger, quart, version of the Brownfield Bass jug. This one has no date or maker's stamp, just "BASS" and "12" on the base.

Glass 1 pint advertising water jug with the message "Ask for a bottle of Bass" and the trademark red triangle applied on to the glass in raised white & red enamel.