During the 1950’s, the brewery was a vertically integrated organisation with its own architect’s department responsible for the design and development of the roughly 1100 pubs and 36 small hotels making up its estate.
Clearly the department was proud of its work because among the archives of H&G Simonds in Bristol we found this fabulous album of 10×8 inch photographs, each one beautifully annotated in white ink.
The image of The Peackock off licence is especially interesting. This was built on the site of the original Simonds brewery tap on Broad Street that dated from before 1780.
If you own or run one of these, do get in touch as I would be delighted to supply you with a print.
You can see the story of Reg Norkett who worked at the Brewery as an architect from 1954-1960 on his blog HERE:
The images are now in better resolution image format. I have hi-res versions if of interest for historical purposes.:
Torquay, The Devon Dumpling
Torquay, The Devon Dumpling Pigeon Loft
Torquay, The Devon Dumpling Lounge
Slough, The Nags Head
Slough, The Nags Head Lounge Bar 2
Slough, The Nags Head Lounge Bar 1
Slough, Farnburn Store Arthur Cooper
Shoreham, The Ferry Inn bar
Reading, The Eastgate
Reading, The Eastgate Public bar
Reading, The College Arms Lounge
Reading, The College Arms Bar
Reading, The College Arms & Arthur Cooper
Reading, Southcote, The Happy Prospect
Reading, Southcote, The Happy Prospect Public Bar
Reading, Southcote, The Happy Prospect Lounge Bar
Reading, Broad St. The Peacock Saloon Bar
Reading, Broad St. The Peacock Public Bar
Reading, Broad St. The Peacock Gentlemans Bar
Reading, Broad St. The Peacock & Arthur Cooper
Reading, Broad St. The Peacock & Arthur Cooper interior