Bird in Hand, Sharpley Heath

The pub was founded c.1750 and occupied by members of the Shelley family for over 200 years. Brewing on the premises was probably started in the mid 19th century and was initially on a small scale, family reminiscences suggest that the first brew was produced in the washing copper. In 1860 William Shelley was at the pub and was described as a farmer but with no reference to brewing. Thomas Shelley, aged 23, was the head of the household at the Bird in Hand in 1881 and described himself as a brewer publican & farmer. The pub is referred to as brewing beer in the 1901 Royal Commission Report on Arsenic in Beer. Eventually the Bird in Hand and three other pubs owned by the family were supplied, together with a free trade in the Stafford, Stone and Cheadle area. Brewing ceased on the 20th December 1927, the last recorded brewer was Thomas Houldcroft Shelley, who was there by 1904.