The end of an era

By Allan Swann

Auckland’s Lion Brewery has been sold, ending 150 years of brewing in its Newmarket location.

Sharing some similarities with the Guinness Brewery’s move from Dublin’s CBD, Lion Nathan’s prime 5.2ha site in the heart of Auckland’s main shopping district had outgrown its practicality. Logistically unfeasible and with high property value and rates, ultimately the costs of any upgrades to the facility (estimated at $50 million) made retaining the site untenable.

Sold earlier in the year to AMP capital investors for $162 million, Lion Nathan announced the construction of a new manufacturing and warehousing facility in East Tamaki, consolidating their Lion’s bottling and warehouse operations in the same area. The new 16.7ha Ormiston Road purchase will cost $250 million including land, equipment and construction costs, ready for operation in 2011. Lion’s head offices will remain on Carlton Gore road in Newmarket, although brewery tour manager Trudy Clare stated that the status of the brewery’s very popular ‘Lionzone’ museum remains a secret.

Cameron Brewer, general manager of the Newmarket Business Association is also sad to see the site go, but notes that it’s a bitter sweet event.

“It marks the end of the industrial era for Newmarket. We’re losing a lot of heritage, but we all knew that the commercial reality of running a huge production based business like that in central Auckland has become price prohibitive,” he said.

Brewer remains excited by the possibilities offered by new business on the site, which at this stage looks to be commercial, with some residential and boutique retailing – although no renderings or consent applications have been submitted to council at the time of writing.

The NBA has asked Lion to leave a footprint to commemorate their 150 years at the site.

“We’ve suggested that they gift one of their bronzed statues of Captain Cook, perhaps with a plaque donating the brewery’s history, so people wandering down Khyber pass can remember its history in perpetuity.”

The departure of Newmarket’s last brewery ends an era for the national industry, a history that extends beyond Lion’s branding. Khyber Pass has long been the home of the New Zealand beer industry, hosting more than a dozen individual breweries at its peak. The region was extremely popular in the 1800s due to the prevalence of clean underground streams running through this volcanic area and exploded in the 1860s as it developed into a hub for soldiers heading down Great South Road to battle in the Land Wars.

Lion’s current site started out as Captain Cook Inn, purchased by Thomas Hancock in 1859. Hancock began experimenting with brewing in his shed, and by the 1860s business was booming, leading to the construction of a brew house in 1862.

Across the road at the same time, Richard Seccombe built Seccombe’s Brewery above a spring, using the iconography of a Lion from his family crest. It would go on to be renamed Great Northern Brewery in 1898, and Lion Brewery in 1915 after merging with Campbell and Ehrenfreid’s Albert Brewery.

Captain Cook and Lion merged with eight other major breweries in 1923 to create New Zealand breweries, which based most of their production on the Captain Cook site. The company wouldn’t be renamed Lion till 1977. By the 1950s business was booming and the site underwent extensive development, building an R&D department in 1953 and the Steinecker plant in 1958, which used a continuous fermentation process. This lead to the production of Steinecker beer, filling a market hole after Labour’s ‘Black Budget’ raised the taxes on imported premium beers in 1958. After losing a naming rights court case to Heineken in 1962, the name changed to Steinlager and went on to become successful overseas. Over the course of the 20^th century the site has expanded rapidly as Lion Nathan picked up the licenses to brew international beers such as Stella Artois, modern home-grown hits like Steinlager Pure, and eternally popular favourites like Lion Red. Speculation about the brewery’s relocation has been occurring for years, but it’s clear the decision makes sense. The industry is losing an icon and part of our history – after all how many breweries can count Michael Joseph Savage and Waka Nathan among their former staff?

Captain Cook Brewery circa 1920