Extracted from Butler & Sons. Wine Merchants, 1830-1976
by Miss Joan Butler in 1999 - held in the Berkshire Record Office
Full article on
In 1830, Charles Butler, who had been a farmer at Blewbury, founded the business and acquired premises, a beer house in Chatham Street, Reading. [called the Bakers Arms]
Charles Butler's son was another
Charles(1827-1911). Charles junior had a large family including Charles
George (b 1852), William (1854-1924), and Harry (b 1862).
Charles Butler, the founder, gave the business to his son he was 21
years old. In 1873 that Charles took his son Charles George into
partnership but Charles George became an alcoholic and that partnership
was dissolved in 1889 when William and Harry became partners with their
father. Harry Butler left in 1913/14. He had tried to expand the
business too rapidly. The full page advertisement of 1907 must have been
his idea. [see photo below. See another advert in the pub, by the
backdoor to the courtyard] By 1913 the business was in debt to the
bank.
1907 advert 
1904
advert from
courtesy of Robin Gillas http://readingimages.epixtech.co.uk/extra/test3.html
William kept a diary about his natural history
studies from 1885 to 1924 and gave his collection of butterflies and
moths to Reading Museum and he was also a town councillor for many
years. Two of his sons worked in the firm, William Edward junior and
Frank Ernest, both became partners in 1919.
W illiam junior's son, Bernard William Butler (1897-1981) was a clerk on
the GWR at Paddington. In January 1923 he was offered a place as clerk
at Butler & Sons at a weekly wage of £4, an extra 10/- on his wage on
the railway. He became a partner in 1935. Another son, Felix John Butler
(1905-1997) was a London school teacher until joining the army in 1942.
On being demobbed in 1946 he joined the firm and became a partner in
1947.
The Premises were nos 85, 87, 89 and 91 Chatham Street. 89 and 91 were the bar. The rest of the buildings were a shop, offices, wine, spirit, and beer stores and cellars, beer and wine bottling areas, bottle washing department and a covered sideway with a rail track and a trolley to carry heavy goods from and to the road. [rail track is still there at front left of pub, trolley is in the back courtyard]
Wine, spirits and beer were bottled on the premises.[under the label of ‘Old Reading Abbey’ - see examples above. Remember the ‘mountain wine’? If you can remember then you probably never drank it. See reminiscence below] Wine was delivered to the firm in wooden casks - hogsheads, pipes etc.
Besides the partners there were office and shop staff, a resident bar manager, van drivers, bottling and store staff, and bottle washers. There were more than 20 staff from 1945 onwards.
More recent years
By 1976 Bernard and Felix Butler were aged 78 and
70. They sold the premises to Fuller, Smith & Turner of London in
October 1976. Fullers re-furbished the premises and re-opened the pub
as "The Butler", and Mr Bernard William Butler was invited to pull the
first pint.
The pub was run from then until 1984 by tenants John and Audrey Gillas. After they left to run the Four Points there was a series of managers, some names remembered being Peter and Michelle, Rudi, Keith and Ros. Old tradition was revived in 1997 when the son of John and Audrey took over the tenancy, with Robin and Susan Gillas running the pub until 2004. A pub consortium then took over managing the pub with first Adrian, then Jackie, then Scott. When Scott left there were concerns that the pub might close, like many others have this last year, so a group of regulars got together to help back up our landlady, Lynne Trussler, and the buzz is now back in the Butler.
The boss lady, Lynne Charles Butler Charles Butler Junior Robin and Sue Gillas
Reminiscing on Mountain Wine - by ‘Driftwood’ on www.reading-forum.co.uk
http://www.reading-forum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3387
It was Easter time
around 1972, Reading Football Supporters Club team (who I played for at
the time) were on their way for their Easter tour of Belgium, France and
Holland to play some of the finest amateur sides the three host nations
could offer. It was hot and thirsty work and through many hours of fund
raising (don't ask how we raised the money), I held the kitty to
purchase much needed refreshment for the coach trip down to Dover to
catch the ferry. We needed the finest liquid refreshment which had the
most vitamins to keep our young muscular bound, super fit bodies (steady
ladies) in shape for the weekend, so I selflessly volunteered to call on
the way to catch the coach, into Vitamins-R-Us suppliers and purveyors
of the finest nectar in Chatham Street.
Butlers stocked the finest bottles of Mountain
Wine, and we all wanted some for the
journey to Dover. Unfortunately their Off Licence was shut when I
called. The landlady refused point blank to sell me 6 or so bottles of
the stuff and after much discussion she came up with a solution. I stood
at the bar and waited for her to find empty bottles, and then whilst she
poured Mountain Wine into a glass, then
into the empty bottles.
Despite it being early evening, the local inhabitants of the bar were
already three sheets to the wind, and the guy who was doing his utmost
to sit and stay upright at the bar next to me, looked on in amazement,
lovingly at each and every glass that was poured into each bottle, with
his jaw firmly planted on the surface of the bar. [do you recognize
this person?]
He turned to me and with a drunken slur to his voice remarked about what
I was buying. To save the ladies of the forum's blushes, roughly
translated his words were along the lines of, "My my, look at all that
lovely Mountain
Wine being poured into the bottles for this young gentleman
standing next to me"
Funny how all these years later, Lady P's remark of 'jug in hand at the
Offy' reminded me of that magical moment. There were even more magical
moments later on in the evening once the
Mountain Wine had gone!