Newcastle Brown Ale and ale in the Federation Brewery site in Dunston, Gateshead, which was to pass to them with their £7.2m purchase of the Federation Brewery. The purchase and consolidation at Dunston created the new brewing company, Newcastle Federation Breweries. The last production run of Brown Ale in Newcastle came off the Tyne Brewery line in May 2005. Pre-production trial brews were conducted at Dunston to ensure no change occurred in its taste after the move. The Tyne Brewery site was bought by a consortium of Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, and the regional development agency One NorthEast, as part of the
Ale conner in the community. Ale-conners sometimes had to be impressed into service, and the post was often rotated amongst a number of individuals. The tradition is still maintained in the City of London. The 1911 "Encyclopædia Britannica" reports: The officers are chosen by the liverymen of London to inspect the measures used in the public houses. The title is a sinecure. It is sometimes said that: The Ale Conner was a type of early tax-man whose job it was to test the quality and strength of beer, not by quaffing, but by sitting in a puddle of it! They travelled from