I recently came across this excellent blog which refers to this news story, claiming:
Do yourself a favour and read the whole thing. The writer describes Wallington where Orwell lived from 1936-1947, where he likely conceived Animal Farm. It links to this picture of Irene Stacey, former landlady of the Plough pub, and the ceramic jug Orwell used to transport his beer. It even provides a Google Map street-level view of the cottage where he lived at the time....The beer Orwell would have carried home in that jug was Simpson’s dark mild from the little market town of Baldock, a few miles from Wallington. The Plough had been owned by the brewery from at least 1799, when the brewery itself was owned by the Pryor family, relatives of the Simpsons – one branch of the Pryors owned Harwood’s old brewery in Shoreditch, and later became partners in the big London porter brewery Truman Hanbury & Buxton in Brick Lane. Simpson’s lovely old Georgian-fronted brewery was acquired by Greene King in 1954, and closed in 1965 (and demolished soon after, a crime against fine architecture)...
Needless to say, now I'm sleuthing for the Simpsons Dark Mild recipe.
In the meantime, I'll share a couple cool Eric De Mare photographs from 1956 found in their digital archive.
Chime in if you can provide any more leads. If you live near the Hertfordshire Record Office in County Hall, it would be fun to go in and view the physical documents (that is, if you're an unapologetic English literature and English ale nerd like me.)
SEE ALSO:
Another great blog about Orwell's Wallington cottage and the Plough pub next door, complete with pictures.
Historical records regarding the Plough Pub
And check out this unrelated quirky fact! Why on earth was Guinness Extra Stout being bottled at Simpson's Brewery in Baldock? That's strange, right?
