A report from the BBC documentary series ‘Look Stranger’ on the use of Percheron draft horses by Vaux Breweries in Sunderland. The film shows horses being prepared before being sent out onto the streets of the town to deliver the locally produced beer. The film ends back in the tack room at Vaux were young apprentices polish the bridle brasses and leathers ready for the following day. The film opens in a field and a man opening a gate, leading a Percheron horse into another field. They are...

A report from the BBC documentary series ‘Look Stranger’ on the use of Percheron draft horses by Vaux Breweries in Sunderland. The film shows horses being prepared before being sent out onto the streets of the town to deliver the locally produced beer. The film ends back in the tack room at Vaux were young apprentices polish the bridle brasses and leathers ready for the following day. The film opens in a field and a man opening a gate, leading a Percheron horse into another field. They are followed by a foal. Inside the stables at Vaux Breweries two men work brushing the mane of a Percheron and correctly positioning its bridle. Once ready they lead the horse out of the stables following behind two others. Four Percheron’s horses pull an empty delivery wagon through the brewery yard. The film cuts to a view of  the river Wear with a shipyard and the cooling towers of Sunderland Power Station in the distance. The camera pans left to show four horse drawn delivery wagons leaving the Vaux Breweries loaded down with barrels and crates of beer. General views show two of the delivery wagons traveling along Sunderland streets and pulling up outside a large house. Hanging from the wall inside the tack room back at the Vaux site are a number of horse bridles. General views show young men in brown coats polishing the metal or leathers of a number of bridles. Two more young men come into the room and hang more bridles on the wall. The film ends with a man polishing a hook for the reins on one of the bridles.