The Lion Brewery and Malthouse in Jerningham Street, Lower North Adelaide, emerged in the 1870s as one of the most significant contributors to South Australia’s brewing industry. For more than four decades it played a prominent role in local beer production, until 1914 when the Walkerville Co-operative Brewing Company at Southwark (Thebarton) began supplying beer to the associated Lion Hotel. From that point the brewing operations at the Lion complex ceased, although the manufacture of aerated waters and cordials continued. The brewery and malthouse were established by William Bailey and Frederick Stanley, with architect Daniel Garlick advertising for the construction of the brewery in 1870. It is believed that the brewing plant may have been acquired from John Eamer, who operated a Lion Brewery at Hackney in 1869, less than a kilometre from the Jerningham Street site. The enterprise met with immediate success, and by 1873 a purpose-built malt house had been added. That same year Stanley withdrew from the partnership, prompting Bailey to dispose of his interest in the business. In 1873 Bailey sold the brewery to William Beaglehole. A Cornish-born builder and developer, Beaglehole had been closely involved in the growth of the Yorke Peninsula copper-mining towns of Kadina, Wallaroo, and Moonta, where he also served as landlord of the Royal Hotel. He formed the firm of Beaglehole and Johnston with James and Andrew Galbraith Johnston of the Oakbank Brewery, and together they operated the Lion Brewery and Malthouse. Beaglehole formally reorganised the business in 1884, establishing the Lion Brewing and Malting Company and becoming chairman of directors. His wider business interests were extensive. He founded the Waverley Brewery at Broken Hill, later acquired by the South Australian Brewing Company, and established a distillery at Thebarton, subsequently taken over by Milne and Co. He was also among the first members of the South Australian Licensed Victuallers’ Association and a founder of Melbourne’s Grand Hotel. Further alterations and improvements to the Lion Brewery were carried out in 1873 and 1875 to designs by architect James Cumming. In 1880 Cumming also called tenders for the construction of the Lion Hotel on the corner of Jerningham and Melbourne Streets, further cementing the site’s importance as both a brewing and hospitality precinct. In 1888 the company was floated on the stock exchange and renamed the Lion Brewery and Malting Company Limited, with Beaglehole appointed managing director. By the end of the 1880s beer consumption had declined, and in response the company diversified into the manufacture of aerated waters and cordials. This move was supported by the expertise of James Johnston, who brought extensive experience from the Oakbank Brewery. In 1890 the directors also resolved to purchase the Waverley Brewery at Broken Hill. The following year, in 1891, James Johnston died suddenly from a heart attack. Over time the company increasingly shifted its focus from brewing to hotel ownership. The Lion Brewing and Malting Company acquired numerous hotels throughout South Australia, including the Cross Keys at Dry Creek, where 20 acres of adjacent land were subdivided in 1912, the Flagstaff at Darlington, the Oriental in Osmond Terrace, Norwood, and the Bath Hotel at 91 King William Street in Adelaide. By the outbreak of the First World War the Jerningham Street brewery was technologically outdated, and the rise of lager beer had transformed the industry. Lacking the capital required to modernise its plant, the company ceased beer production, with all Lion hotels thereafter supplied by the Walkerville Co-operative Brewery. The manufacture of aerated waters and cordials continued, and although a brief attempt was made to resume beer production in the 1920s, it lasted only a year or two. The site continued operating as an aerated water factory until 1974, when the company was sold to the South Australian Brewing Company. In the 1980s the former brewery buildings were converted into apartments, and in a nod to the site’s long brewing heritage, a microbrewery was later established there. Lithograph c1881 B816 State Library SA Brewery c1880 B8979 State Library SA