Harpurhey Brewery, Rochdale Road, Harpurhey

Now with at least four pubs in the McKenna portfolio – The Briton’s Protection, The Wellington, The Balloon and The George & Dragon – trade must have been good as in the 1860s the McKennas took their next big step in the expansion of their business: They built the imposing Harpurhey Brewery, Rochdale Road, employing the Salford building firm of Gregory & Haynes.18 In addition to brewing there…   “A large part of the McKenna’s trade was in wines and spirits. Wines were bought in bulk and bottled on the premises and they also blended their own whisky, imported from Scottish and Irish distilleries” - (Gall, above)

The brewery, less than a mile from the McKennas’ Blackley home, was described as ‘an architectural ornament to Harpurhey’ and erected ‘at great expense, the object of the proprietors being to exemplify the various processes of the brewing industry upon the most improved and scientific principles’. Though the brewery ‘had a very prosperous career from the first,’ in the 20th century it was no longer owned by the McKennas and it ceased operations and was converted into smaller commercial units.

Reference           Alan Gall, ‘Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, vol 2, p15