The Exchange Brewery, Sheffield, owned by Whitbread's. It was founded in 1820 by Tennant Brothers and closed in 1993The Exchange Brewery, Sheffield, owned by Whitbread's. It was founded in 1820 by Tennant Brothers and closed in 1993
The Exchange Brewery, Sheffield, owned by Whitbread's. It was founded in 1820 by Tennant Brothers and closed in 1993

In pictures: raising a pint to Sheffield’s lost breweries

Sheffield these days is a home to a variety of thriving independent and micro breweries – as soon as you get off the train at Sheffield Midland station you hit the popular Brewery Tap on platform 1b.

But the city was once home to big factory-sized breweries that at one time supplied thousands of the city’s thirsty steel and engineering workers on the industrial scale that their hot and dusty working conditions demanded.

Three of the best remembered that all closed in the 1990s are featured in these pictures – Ward’s Sheaf brewery on Ecclesall Road, the Whitbread’s Exchange brewery on Bridge Street and the Stones Cannon brewery in Rutland Road, Neepsend.