Wrexham Lager Sports & Social Club

The brewery was built in 1882 by German immigrants who were trying to reproduce Bavarian-style lager. The site was chosen because deep cellars could be cut into the hillside to take advantage of the natural insulation. However, although giving good insulation, the storage temperature could not be kept low enough. In Bavaria, there was a reliable supply of ice, which was not available in the Wrexham area. Sales were not good and the brewery went into voluntary liquidation.     

Appearing on the scene in 1886 was Robert Graesser who was a director of local firm Monsanto. He met one of the original brewery directors, Mr Ivan Levenstein, on a train and agreed to buy a majority shareholding. His great innovation was to introduce mechanical refrigeration into the storage area, which allowed the storage conditions to be kept at the low temperature required for good lager, ie minus 1 degree centigrade.   

But still, there were poor sales - people in Wrexham drank ale. However, a chance event helped to improve sales. Mr Graesser went to the USA on the steamship SS Baltic and took a supply of his own lager with him. This beer kept its excellent condition throughout the trip whilst competitiors' beers deteriorated and thus a ships' stores market was developed as other shipping lines took his lager. Because of this ship trade, an export market also developed and the brewery had a famous letter dated 21 September 1898 posted from 49 and a half miles north of Khartoum, which states that Wrexham Lager was found in the grounds of Gordon's Palace on 3 September 1898!

However, there was still the ongoing problem of trying to sell the lager in the local area, although some miners did come to the brewery to buy the lager direct. In 1922, the brewery bought the Cross Foxes in Abbott Street, which helped sales, but it couldn't get hold of any more pubs until 1938, when a local brewery, Beirnes, shut down. This expanded the estate to 23 pubs. After the end of the Second World War, much of the export market was lost and again, financial trouble loomed. The brewery was rescued by Ind Coope of Burton-on-Trent. Lager sales continued to rise and in the early 60s, Ind Coope invested £2.5 million in a modernisation programme. During this period, Ind Coope joined with other breweries to form Allied Breweries, becoming one of the largest brewing groups in Britain, which put a further £4 million into Wrexham Lager, making it one of the most modern lager breweries in Europe, and probably the best!

The brewery was closed in 2000 by its Danish owners Carlsberg-Tetley and the lager is now produced in Leeds. Swansea Company Central Retail Limited and Carlsberg-Tetley started demolishing the brewery, apart from the red brick main office, in 2003 and new stores were opened on the site shortly before spring 2006.

Group members attending the Investigation

Andrea, Kate, Lorraine, Mike, Ray and Jim

The Investigation

The group decided to set up night vision cameras in the second floor conference room and another on the landing, pointing down the stairs. The third camera would be located in the cellar.

With the lights switched off the group started the investigation in the conference room with a séance, the group had both mediums on this particular vigil and they both started to pick up on spirits.

Ray brought through a gentleman by the name of Bill Meredith who allegedly worked at the brewery early in the 20^th century; he drove the horse and cart for the delivery draymen. Bill was married and had a son Robin who unfortunately died at the young age of ten. Bill Meredith died aged 42, and during the séance the K2 meter seemed to flash all the way over to amber in response to the questions the medium was asking.

Mike picked up the spirit of a man who gave his name as John Jones this gentleman was born in the 1820's and helped run a brewery with his family. John's wife was a lady by the name of Eleanor. In the mid 1850's John's mother passed away leaving the brewery to John and his elder brother William who was two years his senior. The brewery was allegedly located somewhere in the region of where Island Green and Bradley road are today. William had passed away in1892 and John passed away in1902, Mike assumed that the brewery must have been demolished soon after John's death. John apparently had a dislike or hatred of anything foreign and haunted the Lager Brewery works because of its Germanic connections until its demolition and then moved to the Lager Club where he still haunts today.

Kate, Lorraine and Andrea used the Ouija Board in the hope of contacting more spirits, and the spirit of young Robin Meredith aged ten came through,

He answered a couple of questions asked of him but his energy was very week so it was closed down. They decided to try a glass divination and placed an upturned glass on a round wooden table with "yes" and "no" on it and then asked more questions, one of the question asked was 'How many spirits are there in the Lager Club'? And the reply came back "Four" spirits.

The group also decided to try table tipping, however it proved unsuccessful when the table only vibrated slightly and rocked from side to side gently. Over the past twelve month's the group have had many incidences where the table has lifted and moved violently but not of late which is proving a bit of a let down, but then again you can't win them all.

No activity was recorded or felt in the cellar area whatsoever which is unusual and a big disappointment for us because cellars always seem to attract the malevolent spirits and are a favourite location for any evil or nasty entity that wants to be left alone, that's why they are always interesting to paranormal groups.

We would like to thank the staff at the Lager Club for allowing us into their Club and look forward to returning again in the future.

 THE TRUTH ABOUT GHOSTS AND SPIRITS

 

I believe in ghosts, and in the real and magnificent presence of spirits among us from The Other Side.

I believe because, like so many of you, I've seen them, heard them, been startled by them, even smelled the faint familiar fragrance of a lost loved one, urging me to notice, to embrace their assurance that they're not gone at all, they're right here, not some trick of my imagination or wishful thinking, if I'll just open my eyes, ears, mind, and heart and pay attention.

I believe because, surrounded by so much overwhelming evidence of their existence during my sixty years on this earth, I'd be insane not to believe.

Most of all, I believe because I know to the core of my being that the majority of the world's great religions are right-we are all eternal, every one of us. Our spirits always were and always will be, our physical bodies are only temporary housing for the essence of who we are, that divine part of us that feels joy and sorrow and love and reverence and holds our truth and our timeless memories and our wisdom intact. Death will take our bodies sooner or later, but it can never, ever destroy us. I can't imagine not believing in the existence of ghosts and spirits among us. If our spirits really do transcend death, if they're immortal as we know they are, that means they never cease to exist. So why on earth would we disbelieve the existence of something we agree never ceases to exist? In fact, why not recognize that the presence of ghosts, and of spirits from Home, is actually comforting, even worthy of celebration, proving as it does that eternal life is a beautiful, sacred, God-given certainty?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the unexpected appearance of a ghost or a spirit can't be scary. You'll read stories throughout our reports in which many of us have been frightened, and I'll openly admit to moments of fear during my own life time as well. Some combination of surprise, a cultural insistence that anyone who sees ghosts and spirits is either crazy or lying, and a lack of understanding of what's happening can add up to very real jolts of panic in even the most rational among us.

But please take my word for a few important truths about ghosts and spirits:

For one thing, knowledge really is power. The more I've learned and the more I continue to learn about the spirit world, the more my fear has been replaced by curiosity and fascination, and you'll find the same is true for you; I guarantee it.

For another thing, as so many of you are already aware, it's not just psychics, mediums and other "weirdo's" who routinely have perfectly valid encounters with ghosts and spirits. "Normal" people in every corner of every country on earth have come face to face with visitors from the afterlife. These people know what they've experienced, they know they're not crazy, they know the experience was real, and they don't need me or anyone else to validate it for them. And they'd agree with me on this, I'm sure. Just as any scientist would be a fool to get the same result from the same experiment over and over again and refuse to believe it, all of us who have seen, heard, and felt the presence of the spirit world would be just as foolish to refuse to believe what our five physical senses, our minds, and our hearts would swear to.

Finally, as momentarily frightened as I've been by some of my encounters with residents of the afterlife, I can assure you, I've never met a ghost or spirit who could do a fraction of the physical and emotional damage human beings can do. Give me a choice between a confrontation with the world's most frightening ghost or the world's most cunning human sociopath and I'll choose to take on the ghost every time. You were brave enough to choose another lifetime as a human being on this rough, confusing, beautiful earth, which makes you brave enough to meet ghosts and spirits, especially since we've all been those ghosts and spirits before and will be again when this lifetime ends.