Why British Brewery Lorries Dropped Beer Through the Pavement

British pub history hides in plain sight: those trapdoors in the pavement outside old British pubs are cellar flaps, where brewery draymen lowered every cask by hand from the brewery lorry. Before beer came in by pallet and tail-lift, Britain's brewery draymen lowered every cask by hand through the pub cellar flaps in the pavement. This documentary follows a 1960s brewery lorry round from Burton-on-Trent, home of Bass and Britain's brewing capital, to the tied houses of the Midlands: loading wooden casks and kilderkins, the cellar drop on busy high streets, village pubs before opening time, and how keg beer, the Big Six brewers and the 1989 Beer Orders ended the brewery's own delivery fleet. Did your dad or grandad work as a drayman, or do you remember the brewery lorry outside your local? Tell us in the comments. If you enjoy these stories of British lorries and haulage, a Super Thanks helps us research and make the next one. Thank you, it really means a lot. Visuals are illustrative reconstructions created for this documentary. #BritishLorryArchive #BreweryHistory #BritishPubs