Newcastle Brown Ale wider Newcastle Science City project. Demolition of the former brewery began on 8 March 2007. The triggering of the controlled demolition of the former Barrack Road bottling plant opposite St James' Park was ceremonially performed by Sir Bobby Robson on 22 June 2008. Bottling of Newcastle Brown Ale moved to the John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, in 2007. Heineken bought Scottish and Newcastle in a joint deal with Carlsberg in 2008. On 13 October 2009, Scottish and Newcastle announced that it planned to close the Dunston brewery in 2010, moving production of Brown Ale to the John Smiths
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