ROB HIND in Sadberge has kindly sent in a picture of a Hindes’ stoneware bottle which was found beneath the floorboards of his parents’ house in Darlington.
Despite the similarity in surnames, Rob is not related to the globe-trotting brothers, Thomas Perkin Hinde and George Ridsdale Hinde, who started their brewery in Ridsdale Street in 1871 after a spell in the New Zealand army fighting the Maoris.
George Hinde’s middle name suggests that the street was named after his mother’s family.
As Memories 497 told, after four years of brewing, the brothers sold up and went wine-growing in California until 1885 when they returned home and bought the brewery back. Thomas’ son, Thomas Morton Hinde, took it on and became mayor in 1921. In the late 1920s, it was sold to John Smiths Brewery and brewing ceased.
What became of the brewery? Susan Bailey was one of several people to direct us to Darrien Wright’s dance studio, which is in part of the brewery buildings along with a garage and a storage unit.
Darrien, an independent councillor, says that although his address is The Old Brewery there are no signs that it was once a place of beer.
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