Brewery horses still do the job in London

Press, 16 August 1985, Page 17

Brewery horses still do the job in London

By

NICOLA HOLMES

Twenty years ago John Lawless began his career with London’s famous Whitbread brewery as a yard boy, responsible for mucking out the stables. Today he has assumed the title of foreman horsekeeper, in charge of the sixteen shire horses who weekly tread the streets of central London delivering beer to 25 inner city pubs within an Bkm radius of the brewery.

In addition to this role, Mr Lawless has two ceremonial roles both requiring a good deal of skillful horsemanship. One is as driver of the Lord Mayor of London’s coach and the other as coachman for the Speaker of the House of Commons.

In the old days before lorries took over the majority of beer deliveries, the Whitbread stables ran a fleet of around 300 horses but numbers have now dwindled to just sixteen. The average working life of a Whitbread dray horse is 15 years and it’s not until the grey “gentle giants” are around four years old that they’re brought into the London stables. Prior to that, the horses are given initial training on the Whitbread Hop Farm in Kent and once they’ve mastered the basics are teamed up with “old hands” to carry out their daily rounds. Only male horses are selected for dray pulling duties, and, costing between $3OOO and $6OOO per head they’re valuable animals, says Mr Lawless. Bred all over the United Kingdom, Whitbread’s shire horses must be classified as a “grey” to be selected. Most commonly shire horses are brown or bay in colour, so breeders able to come up with a grey that’s docile in nature and strong in stature can earn premium prices if the animal catches the critical and well-trained eye of John Lawless.

Just recently, two of the Whitbread horses were sold off to Manhattan Breweries in New York City. And for Mr Lawless that deal involved a trip across the Atlantic to make sure the horses settled into their task of delivering beer amid the rowdy and fast-moving Manhattan traffic. Certainly that environment is far removed from the pleasantsmelling and quiet English countrysidee of Tonbridge, in Kent.

Usually working in pairs, a team can carry 6-8 tonnes of kegged beer on a brewers wagon which is a flatdecked affair designed to roll the kegs on and off with the minimum of lifting. On the daily rounds, one driver is assigned per team. All up, eight drivers are employed and a further eight stablemates carry out the cleaning and maintenance jobs around the stables. Mr Lawless employ? an assistant for the

administration duties and another two horsemen are assigned to the Hop Farm. The old stables were built on their present-day site back in 1897 and as numbers have dwindled, the total stable area per horse has risen to a point where they live in roomy luxury, each with his own feeding box at the door. One interesting feature to note was the absence of straw for bedding purposes. According to Mr Lawless, the wet and soiled straw caused staining problems on the horses’ coats so a change was made to untreated wood shavings as a bedding material. Weighing in at an average of one tonne per horse, the food bill is roughly $6O each per day and costed down the sum equates to around $8.50 per mile worked. The volume of feed required is calculated at about 63kg per day per head and this amount equates to the daily energy expenditure, Mr Lawless explains. And that hearty diet is made up of 11kg chaff, 13kg of mixed fodder including barley, flaked maize, linseed and sugar beet, 2kg carrots, two litres of horsenuts and a bag of hay in the evenings. To top it all off, cod liver oil and treacle are added as needed.

Obviously the horses are not expected to eat that amount in one sitting, so it is divided into four feeds throughout the day. As is the tradition in the equine world, each of the Whitbred shires have' a stable name and a occasional name. Almost always, the teams are named together and work alongside each other throughout their careers.

Pikeman and Musketeer, Pomp and Circumstance, Washington and Windsor, High and Mighty and Ajax and Prejudice are some of the named teams. The latter team has been combined after their respective partners Achilles and Pride were retired.

John Lawless is quick to tell you that each horse has its own character and quirks. The newest horse in the stables is Harry, a namesake of the youngest member of the Royal family and he’s been teamed up with Albert, an old rogue infamous for his mischievous deeds. A resident blacksmith is still employed by Whitbread’s to keep the shires’ hooves in tip-top condition. Every two to four weeks, the horses get a new pair of shoes and the bill per set of four is currently running at about $75.

The present Whitbread “smithy” is an Irishman who has spent his life

farrier. Just as it always has, the job requires a great deal of skill to get each shoe fashioned according to the individual hoof shape. With each shoe weighing I.Bkg each, the farrier’s task is no lightweight job, especially when it comes to fitting them on the massive shire horses.

Also on site at the stables is a wheelwright workshop which builds and maintains the large fleet of wagons and drays used for both beer delivery and ceremonial purposes. In keeping with Whitbread’s company colours, most of the livery is painted chocolate brown with gold trim.

Except for special occasions, the drays are fitted with rubber tyres which make the city deliveries run more smoothly. Most of the ceremonial wagons do, however, still retain their wrought iron wheels and make appearances on such auspicous days out as the Harness Horse parade held annually in London’s Regents Park on Easter Monday.

Maintaining the tradition and pageantry of the famous shire breed is an important part of Whitbread’s high profile on the public relations front, says Mr Lawless. The horses love getting “dressed up” in their elaborate harnesses for public shows and the company spends a great deal on ferrying them around the U.K. to attend shows. And the ribbons and rosettes of their continued success are proudly displayed at the London stables.

Two other major breweries, Ind Coope and Young’s, both retain shire horses for work and ceremony, so the competition at harness events isn’t a one-sided affair.

Like the rest of us, the Whitbread shires look forward to their annual holidays. Come June and July, the horses are sent off to the Kent Hop Farm for two weeks frolicking around green pastures without their weighty shoes. Back on the job through, the shires work a five day-week on deliveries plus a half day of exercise on Saturday mornings with Sunday as a rest day. Out on the streets, Mr Lawless says the Whitbread drivers must strictly adhere to two rules. One is no trotting — only walking is permitted with a laden brewer’s dray. The other rule takes care of the internal workings of the horses — no .watering of the shires at public watering troughs for fear of upsetting the internal equine system with contaminated water.