Museums help to preserve heritage brewery vehicles

Two vehicles originally built for a brewery firm have been taken on by museums in an effort to preserve them.

A Victorian horse-drawn fire truck, known as a Water Witch, has been delivered to the West Midlands Fire Service Heritage Museum in Aston, Birmingham.

It was made in 1879 for Mitchells and Butlers Brewery, based in Cape Hill, Smethwick, and had been part of the National Brewery Heritage Trust's collection.

The vehicle will be displayed alongside the fire service museum's other appliances, which include a steamer, trailer pumps and hose carts, in a purpose-built garage.

Meanwhile, the National Brewery Heritage Trust, based in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, has transferred a 1949 Leyland Beaver delivery dray, also built for Mitchells and Butlers, to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.

The motorised dray, which was part of the firm's delivery fleet, was built at a time when breweries were moving away from horse-drawn drays, the trust said.

Dr Harry White, chairman of the trust, said the transfer of the vehicles would help to preserve them and keep them accessible to the public.

"I am pleased that vehicles that worked at the Cape Hill Brewery for so many years will be going back to their roots," he added.

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