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Ever fancy a 'dunkel', or a 'KELZ' beer'? Well, for a time in the 1940's, discerning drinkers in the Kells area, and in the eastern region could, thanks to the initiative of James Fitzsimons, who owned a bakery and shop in Kells. His interest in lager production was 'kick-started' on a walking tour in Germany in 1929.He studied the brewing process in Czechoslavakia,Holland,Belgium,Germany and the U.S. where he sourced a particular yeast.Having failed to establish in Galway,he built his brewery ( Regal Lager Brewery) in Leather Lane( off John Street ) in his home town,in 1942. This was in the decade just before Guinness swept up the remaining local breweries.14 were employed,business declined after 4 years,the label ,RegaLageR,featured the stylistic German eagle.Sold off 1954

Welcome to the site, deco35! Thanks for the background. I had no idea Regal made a range of beers.

"deco35":36ejwfri wrote: Sold off 1954[/quote:36ejwfri]Do you have a citation for this? I found this ad in The Irish Times in January 1952:
[img:36ejwfri]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc236/thebeernut/regal_zps0ad20f35.jpg[/img:36ejwfri]
Did it run for another couple of years under new owners?

Thanks Declan. We can add that to the Lost Breweries map[/url:1ap0j3hc]. It didn't make the first pass as most of them were from the 1830s <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Thanks Barry for putting together the lost breweries map... Fascinating stuff!

A little more info. The Brewery supplied Dublin customers from its depot in Hatch Lane.It was also distributed through Findlaters and Corcorans ( Carlow). The Gresham Hotel was a regular customer.In the popular mind, reasons for the decline of the brewery were (1) The refusal of the Govt.Department to grant an export licence ( the target market was the U.S.forces in N.Ireland) The brewery owner did'nt help his case when he 'jumped ship' from Fianna Fáil to Fine Gael (2) High distribution costs (3) 'The Englishman' ( the brewery manager.) " The three stages Decoction process,as distinct from the Infusion method, are employed in the brewing process which occupies 14 hours" plus the use of filtered air. Oliver Usher's Auction rooms now occupy the old brewery.It's worth a look, and the entrance to Leather Lane is about 25 metres from the Headfort Arms Hotel in the centre of Kells. In the monochrome 1940's, building a lager brewery was a daring and innovative project. Subject to correction, my memory of the first advert. for lager on the new RTE TV station was about 1963/4, which ran(sang).." Call for a Carlsberg,- Carlsberg-Carlsberg (repeat)..Cool Continental Lager"