AS ONE DRINKING TRADITION DIES, ANOTHER

IS REVIVED

A GREAT institution of the North-East brewing industry comes to an end tonight – just as another is revived.

Time is called for good at the Brewery Tap, believed to be the oldest surviving pub in Sunderland city centre, after last orders tonight.

Manager Sid Bicker locks up for the last time following a private party for his 60-most loyal regulars this evening.

Other drinkers have until 5.45pm to sample the Brewery Tap atmosphere, served up for the past 180 years at the traditional Dunning Street hostelry.

“The Tap”, the pub which backs on to the former Vaux Brewery, is being demolished to make way for redevelopment of the entire site.

Mr Bicker said the writing was on the wall with the brewery closure last July, and the sell-off of the Vaux pub estate.

Whitbread, which took over Vaux parent group Swallow, has owned the pub for its last 14 months, but it will always be synonymous with the Vaux name.

A popular watering hole with Vaux employees, many will be making a tearful toast to the Brewery Tap to night.

Mr Bicker, who bills this evening’s closure party as “the Last Supper”, has been licensee for four years, but remembers it being on the High Street drinking circuit of his younger days.

However, just as one name closely connected with Vaux disappears, another has made a comeback-in the form of popular Double Maxim brown ale.

Double, which pre-dates its Newcastle counterpart by 26 years, was a victim of the brewery closure but it is the latest to be revived following the sell-off of other popular Vaux brands, Waggle Dance, Lorimer’s Scotch and Scorpion Lager.

Former Vaux directors Doug Trotman and Mark Anderson, half of the management team which failed to save the brewery with an eleventh hour buyout bid, have bought the brewing rights.

They have been using the expertise of former Vaux head brewer Jim Murray to find the right brewery to produce the bottled ale.

Robinson’s at Stockport, was selected because of its suitable soft water supply and Double Maxim aficionados were impressed.

“I’ll definitely go back to drinking Double Maxim – it’s spot on,” said former Vaux dray horse driver Eddie Mahonie.

Mr Bricker agreed. He said: “As soon as the first drop went I knew it was Double.”

Now in a new distinctive bottle, Double Maxim is available initially at former Vaux pubs, now owned by the Pubmaster and Enterprise Inns chains, as well as from the shelves at Safeway superstores.

Mr Trotman and Mr Anderson hope to top a million bottle sales in its first year, to coincide with the centenary of the beer.