October 17, 1814, the streets of London were inundated with
porter. People were not celebrating, they weren’t drinking and they were not
happy. Instead, they were fleeing for their lives from a 15 foot wave of beer.
At the Horse Shoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, a vat had
broken and knocked over other others, resulting in about 9,000 barrels of beer
flooding the streets of the nearby slum. Two houses were lost, as were seven
lives. But many survived, despite their basements being flooded. At the time,
no one reported rampant beer drinking instead, the crowd was quiet and calm,
which allowed the people who were trapped to be heard.
Photo: blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
The Horse Shoe Brewery was established in 1764 and primarily
produced porter, especially for the area. Just before the flood, it had been
bought by Sir Henry Meaux. After the incident, the brewery was brought to court
because some believed the brewery could have prevented the accident but a jury
cleared the brewery and stated that the flood had been an unavoidable act of
God. The brewery continued production until 1921. Today, the nearby pub, the
Holborn Whippet, brews ale each year to commemorate the London Beer Flood.
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