Rare pictures of when Tetley’s bitter was Leeds’ best-kept secret

The Tetley family’s roots in the West Riding can be traced to around 1740 but it was Joshua Tetley who, nearly a century later, leased the Hunslet site that was to quench a thousand thirsts. And by 1860 Tetley was the largest brewery in the North.

Its art deco HQ, now The Tetley arts complex, opened in 1931 but it was the post-war consolidation in the brewing industry that saw its flagship bitter go global. Tetley acquired its local rival, Melbourne Brewery in 1960, followed by Walkers of Warrington, then Ind Coope and Ansells in the Midlands, to form the world’s largest brewing conglomerate.

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