Story behind the famous Hanson's Bridge – or should it be Don Everall Bridge?

The original bridge was built in 1849 for the South Staffordshire Railway as part of a new line from Burton-upon-Trent, through Lichfield, to Dudley. The Wednesbury-Dudley stretch of the line will now be used by the West Midland Metro tramline, with the bridge set to be removed this weekend.

The present advert for Hanson's Mild Ale dates back about 30 years, replacing an earlier – and far more interesting – advertisement for the brewery featuring a mural of a chainmaker, and the slogan 'no mod cons'.

Going from memory, the older Hanson's mural was painted on the the bridge about 1987, replacing the familiar royal blue advert for Don Everall Transglobe.

Back in the 1960s and 70s, Don Everall had the local travel industry pretty much sewn up. The company, which began when Don and his brother Cliff bought Wolverhampton's first motor coach in 1926, grew into a firm of travel agents which proliferated across the West Midlands.

Shortly after the Second World War, Don Everall expanded into aviation, operating out of the wartime airfield at Pendeford. The company quickly established itself as one of the first airlines to bring overseas travel within reach of the working family. Don Everall also owned a chain of car showrooms across the region.

The travel business collapsed in 1991, shortly after it had been taken over by a Pentecostal pastor and three members of his church, in an ill-fated deal.

But back to Hanson's, the beer brand traces its roots back to the 1870s, when a young widow started brewing beer to supplement her income following the death of her husband.

Julia Mantle grew up with the beer trade, her father John having owned the Saracen’s Head pub in Stone Street, Dudley, from 1835 to 1850.

Julia married Thomas Hanson in 1846 and the following year the newlyweds set up a wine and spirit merchants. Julia continued to run the business after Thomas's death in 1870 and started brewing her own beer.

Hanson's Mild proved a big hit, and Julia moved the brewery to Tower Street. In 1881, the brewery moved again, this time to the top of High Street, and for the next 90 years the brewery, with its name painted in large letters across the frontage, became a well-known landmark in Dudley.

Julia died in 1894, but her sons continued the business until 1943, when it was taken over by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries. It expanded in the 1950s, taking over Alfred Preedy's tobacco warehouse on the other side of High Street.

In 1992, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries announced the closure of Hanson's brewery in Dudley, but said it would continue producing Hanson's Mild from Park Brewery in Wolverhampton. There was talk of turning the redundant Hanson's building into a brewery museum, but the scheme never came to fruition, and an Asda supermarket now stands on the site.

Production of Hanson's Mild ceased in 2007, although it occasionally returns as a limited edition 'special'.