Tucked proudly on the junction between Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street once stood the Horse Shoe Brewery, which – during the early 19th century – was one of London’s largest.
Only brewing porter – a dark beer that was once the most popular alcoholic beverage in the capital – Horse Shoe was responsible for over 102,000 barrels of it a year.
Yet tragedy struck on October 17, 1814.
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It began that afternoon.
The fermentation tank, which stood 22 feet-high, had several iron bands around it: and just after lunch, one iron band snapped.
One of the storehouse clerk, George Crick, flagged this up with his supervisor, who replied that “no harm would ensue”, for it was not uncommon for bands to snap – in fact, it happened a few times a year.
About an hour later, the whole tank exploded.
The piping hot ale was released with such force it collapsed one of the walls of the brewery, triggering the eruption of several more vats.
By this point, the fermenting ale was flowing out of the warehouse and into the street below.
What sounds like a great dream materialised into being an absolute nightmare.
Waves of ale reached up to 15 feet, and demolished four houses in the surrounding area – a slum notorious for poverty and prostitution.
One girl, Hannah Bamfield, was tragically killed when having tea with her mum and her friend.
She was just four years old.
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Eight people died as a result of the beer flood, four of which were children.
It was, as the Morning Post reported the next day, a “scene of desolation [that] presents a most awful and terrific appearance, equal to that which fire or earthquake may be supposed to occasion”.
The coroners’ report afterwards established that it was an “act of God”, which in legal terms, means it was a natural incident beyond human control.
And as a result of the incident, large wooden tanks were quickly replaced with concrete vessels.
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