“Ushers of Trowbridge had contracts to brew the likes of Miller Genuine Draft, Steinlager from New Zealand and Amstel for Heineken”, says former Brewing Manager of Ushers, Gary Todd. “We were brewing them all in Ushers.”

But did Todd, now Operations Director at Thomas Hardy Burtonwood Ltd, ever think that Ushers would one-day be brewing North Korea’s favorite beer, Taedonggang lager?

After ceasing operations in 2000, the brewery was put up for sale and the search for a buyer began. “I think it was relief – relief that it was being sold and it was going somewhere.”

For Ushers of Trowbridge, that somewhere was North Korea.

“I’m a brewer without a brewery,” says Gary Todd. “But I still love brewing – it was my very first love.”

Todd is a veteran of the industry and is skilled in almost all aspects of it. Having joined Grand Metropolitan Brewing straight out of university as a brewer, Todd has worked within the industry ever since.

Joining Ushers in 1988, Todd became its brewing manager in 1995. “It was a fantastic brewery, it really was”, recalls Todd. “I loved Ushers. I loved the people in it, I loved the business.” 

A regional brewer, Ushers had contracts to brew and bottle a variety of the worlds’ beers, as well as its own brews. But it was with surprise and sadness that at the turn of the millennium Ushers was forced to close its doors.

“For whatever reason, the finances of Ushers weren’t quite working,” states Todd. 

Ushers had three choices in 2000 – it could be demolished and flattened, sold off in parts to different buyers, or preferably sold as one whole.

“The ideal thing was for it to be sold off as one package”, explains Todd. “And that was when Uwe called us and said I may have a buyer, but I can’t tell you who it is just yet…” 

“It was a fantastic brewery, it really was,” [Todd] says. “But it has got a new lease of life and the fact it is still up-and-running is fantastic.” 

The potential buyer came as a shock to Todd and the rest of those at Ushers. Uwe Oehms, a German-broker specializing in second-hand breweries, was in-fact tasked by North Korea to find them a suitable site that would form the bedrock of the first brewery in their country. They found what they were looking for in the quaint English market town of Trowbridge. 

Keen to establish a state-owned brewery, North Korea took a liking to the Wiltshire-based brewery quickly after it came onto the market. Their plan was to bring over Ushers to Pyongyang, brick-by-brick and pint-by-pint, to be resurrected as it stood in Trowbridge and become the first brewery for the state-owned Taedonggang Brewing Company.

“To begin with, it was kept quiet”, remembers Todd. “I think it was relief however, because it was being sold and it was going somewhere.” 

The next stage of the sale saw a delegation from North Korea swap Pyongyang for Wiltshire, keen to cast an eye on their prospective purchase. The delegation that came across included government officials, businessmen, and supposed brewers.

“The more and more days we had with the North Koreans, the more and more uneasy it became,” Todd recalls. “They were a nice bunch of guys, but you couldn’t have a laugh or a joke with them. You couldn’t talk to them without one of their government officials.” 

But happy with what they saw, they quickly decided that Ushers was exactly what they were looking for. “They were amazed,” Todd says. “At the time, Ushers was quite a modern brewery as we’d invested heavily in it – everything was fairly new.” 

Keen to bring the brewery back to life as a mirror image of how it was in Trowbridge, the North Korean delegation made it clear they wanted the whole thing. From the beer tanks to the bricks, from plastic cups to glass bottles – they wanted everything.

“They wanted absolutely everything, that was the interesting thing,” recalls Todd. “They wanted the plastic cups out of the vending machine and all the individual tiles from the floor.” Even the toilet seats weren’t safe.

“There was even this lift shaft that ran through the brewhouse,” explains Todd. “But it was broken beyond repair, it was condemned.” The North Koreans wanted that regardless. 

The North Koreans also wanted an integral brick wall at the back of the brewhouse, backing on into the Ushers Social Club – if that was to be pulled down, the social club would have gone tumbling down with it. “It took a lot of persuading, that they couldn’t have that brick wall,” says Todd. “But unless they had it, they didn’t want the brewery.”

The delegation even wanted Todd himself to come over with the building to Pyongyang and work in the Taedonggang brewery.

“That was never going to happen”, says Todd, who had already got a new job lined up in nearby Dorchester. “It was either Dorchester or North Korea, for me it was never an option…”

But Todd, along with others from Ushers, was more than willing to show the North Koreans how the brewery worked – taking them through every plan related to the building.

“We had to go through everything with them”, remembers Todd. “But I remember thinking – this is never going to work.” The delegation was shown all the plans by Todd and the rest of the brewery team – how the Ushers brewing process worked.

For the North Koreans, the idea was to not just rebuild Ushers in Pyongyang – but also reassemble it brick-by-brick as it was in Trowbridge. “I kept thinking how were they going to be able to put this brewery back together”, says Todd.

“They wanted absolutely everything, that was the interesting thing,” recalls Todd. “They wanted the plastic cups out of the vending machine and all the individual tiles from the floor.” Even the toilet seats weren’t safe.

There was also the fact that a road ran through the middle of Ushers in Trowbridge, separating the brewhouse from the packaging plant – a good 300 meters away. “Why would you want to put the brewery back together the exact same?” asks Todd. “But for them, it was probably the easiest way.”

A construction team from Eastern Europe arrived soon after the small print had been signed, to dissemble the brewery and pack-it-up before its journey over to the Far East. “I can’t imagine that it all fitted onto one ship,” says Todd. 

The brewery could produce half a million-hectare liters a year and contained around 40 large beer tanks.

The brewery was eventually packed up and sent to Avonmouth for its long journey to Pyongyang, only before being held up for weeks as the UK government scrambled to reassure itself that the large tanks weren’t being used for anything but brewing.

“You could see why the government was a bit scared of sending it off to North Korea,” says Todd.  

Dismantled, packaged-up and sent to pastures anew – Ushers was to finally leave the green and pleasant land of Trowbridge for the secrecy and mystery of North Korea.

Years later, Todd was to receive a call from a journalist from The Independent who was following up on a story on the Taedonggang brewery.

After meeting with Todd, he returned some months later with a bottle of North Korea’s finest, a longneck bottle of Taedonggang.

“I was very pleasantly surprised, it was very good,” states Todd. “I was expecting the worst, and instead I got something that could easily compete with anything in the UK market.”  

When asked how he remembers the unique and mad story of the Ushers sale, a gleam enters Todd’s eyes. “It brings a smile”, he says. “We still sit round during finance meetings, and something will remind us of Ushers and its story.”

But Todd is not sad when reminiscing, for Ushers carries on – albeit halfway across the world and producing pints for millions of thirsty North Koreans.

“It was a fantastic brewery, it really was,” he says. “But it has got a new lease of life and the fact it is still up-and-running is fantastic.” 

So if you’re ever in downtown Pyongyang and find yourself in a bar where Taedonggang is served, cold and fresh straight from the tap, remember that it may be brewed in North Korea – but it was made in Trowbridge.

Edited by James Fretwell

Featured image: Koryo Tours

Cover photo: Joseph Ferris III