Wines & Spirits
The wines and spirits trade in Rotherham was once a considerable one, conducted from large premises in the town centre right down to every small off licence and corner shop. It is still pretty formidable now although the big supermarkets have taken a large percentage of the trade. There is only one wine shop in the centre of town and that is part of a large chain and has little choice. There's a wine shop in Wentworth but I haven't made any purchases there so I can't comment. There may be wine shops in other places but I don't know them. Even when I was a young, well let's say the Sixties, the offie on Wellgate used to stock various sherries, Madeira and port in very LARGE barrels. You used to take your own bottle and they'd drain off a pint for you to take home. This disappeared some time in the 1970s.
Even in Roman Times when an early form of global warming (probably from burning Christians) ensured that England was rather warmer than it is now, grapes were not grown further north than about Lincoln. After the Romans departed the growing of the grape and the production of wine died out. They were reintroduced in places by monks, but ceased in Medieval Times when the climate became much colder and harsher, and the poor old vines were blasted by the frosts. So you see that there is no Rotherham Rouge, no Brinsworth Blanc to brag about. Canklow Champagne - now that's another story.
Nor have I found any evidence of large scale distillation in the town, no Wickersley Whisky or Rawmarsh Rum. However I'm pretty sure that, until the Government got very mean about it and introduced excise duties, there was plenty of cheap gin about town of the type generally known as rotgut or Mothers' Ruin. There may have been some better stuff around - there's still a Gin House on Ginhouse Lane, but I could be misinterpreting the word 'Gin' which does have other meanings. According to Rod this was actually an Engine House - I feel quite disappointed.
Having said all this, not unnaturally, Rotherham being Rotherham, the Wines and Spirits trade was prominent in the town. There were large vaults beneath the premises of John Coupland in Church Street, which extended towards the river. A well known Rotherham Character, John Curforthay, who was a surgeon as well as a wines and spirits merchant was 6' 3" tall and 40 stones in weight. When he died they needed a hook and pulley to assist in lowering his coffin into its grave in the Parish Church.
The South Yorkshire Wine and Spirit Company was founded in 1790. At one time the company bottled Bass's ales and Guinness, imported and bonded foreign wines and spirits, and was also a Havana cigar merchant.