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Awards
The Malt Shovel Tavern regularly wins awards
for its real ales (or is the runner-up). Among its trophies it has the
following:Cask Ale Pub of the
Year 1999
East Midlands Pub of the Year 2001 & 2004
Northamptonshire Pub of the Year 1997-2000 & 2003
 Northamptonshire
Pub of the Year 2003: Presenting the Award to Norman & Jacky, Phil
Greenway (left) Northamptonshire Campaign for Real Ale - CAMRA. Click on
the thumbnail image to see a larger picture.
Breweriana
To see some of our breweriana visit our 'Brewing
in a Bygone Age' page
The Malt Shovel Tavern is home to a vast collection of breweriana. Walls
are adorned with brewery slates, mirrors, framed show cards, enamel
signs, trays, jugs, bottles, labels and beer mats etc. All are original
and depict mainly closed down breweries, there are also many items
relating to Phipps and the Northampon Brewery Company (NBC) both of
which used to brew opposite the pub (Carlsberg now has a
modern brewery on the site!)
 The undoubted 'star' of our collection is in fact the Northampton
Brewery Company (NBC) star!
Manufactured in 1950 the star has been renovated to the original
specification (including replacement neon tubes) and firmly bracketed to
the front of the pub.
The Star, with its outline shining brightly, is a sight to behold for
passing drivers and pedestrians. We think that no other such stars exist.
This is difficult to believe when you consider the Northampton Brewery
Company owned several hundred pubs and off licences, all of which would
have had the star logo. Perhaps their demise was due to the fact that
they were constructed from cast aluminium and when the various premises
were 'debadged' the stars ended up being 'cashed in' at the scrap yard.
If you have or know of the whereabouts of any more of these Stars or any
other interesting memorabilia please
let
us know
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Pub History
Today’s Malt Shovel
Tavern was built in 1914 by the then Northampton Brewery Company, but
its history goes back to some of the earliest days of the town.
The
Malt Shovel stands on
Bridge Street
, one of the four main entrances to the
medieval town of
Northampton
. This area, known as the
South Quarter, contained small houses and probably numerous inns, with
spacious accommodation for stabling and to shelter wagons and
merchandise. The Malt Shovel Tavern was one of these old hostelries and,
according to Speed’s map and surveys of 1610, was the oldest building on
the street.
The
original Malt Shovel and the adjacent buildings were demolished in 1914
as part of a widening scheme for
Bridge Street
. It was rebuilt in the
same year in its present location and adopted by the Northampton Brewery
Company (NBC), just across the road, as its brewery tap.
In
1957, NBC merged with its close neighbour Phipps Brewery;
between them they owned 1,171 pubs. Watney’s bought out the partnership
in 1960 and demolished both breweries in 1974, selling the entire site
to Carlsberg, whose Danish lagers are still being brewed opposite the
Malt Shovel Tavern today.
The
Malt Shovel Tavern became a Watney Mann pub, but was sold in 1981 to
Michael McManus because of lack of trade. It was renamed the Tudor House
and enjoyed a period of revival before being sold to John Liddington and
Sons, beer wholesalers from
Rugby
.
They
quickly sold the pub on and over the following years it became the
subject of a number of themed ideas, including an infamous period as
Barney Rubbles.
The
current owners bought the premises in 1996. A major refurbishment
programme included changing the front façade back to how it looked in
the 1940s. The pub was renamed The Malt Shovel Tavern and reopened for
business in late December 1996. |
