Meet the brewery workers Keld, Birgit and Ivan
On the occasion of the cultural festival Golden Days, which this year has the theme At Work, Home of Carlsberg asked the employees themselves: How was working life at the Carlsberg Brewery on Valby Bakke?
Throughout the summer, Home of Carlsberg has asked for stories from current and former employees who worked at the Carlsberg Brewery when it was located on Valby Bakke.
Coachmen, brewery workers, office students, and managers, among many others, submitted stories. Here, you can dive into Keld, Birgit, and Ivan's fun, authentic, and unfiltered stories about everything from good colleagueship to hard and heavy work and Carlsberg's kindergarten, which was especially helpful for the single women at the brewery.
Keld Norup Lauridsen
Title: Brewery worker, distribution driver, chairman, bottling master, bottling manager, production manager, brewery manager, operations manager
Employed: 1975-2010
Keld's father, Ole, worked at Carlsberg for 42 years. Keld was born and raised in Carlsberg's old worker's homes, where he lived with his parents and their German Shepherd, Bonzo. Following his father's footsteps, Keld also got a job at the brewery.
”Everyone always wanted to come to my house after school to play because we had soda, and the Carlsberg area was fun to run around in. In the Carlsberg cellars, we had a lot of bottle caps that we used as gold coins to play with, and we could always visit the coachmen in the stable and see the horses.
There was also a big coal pile with trees and grass growing on it. During winter, it served as a fantastic sledding hill. It would never happen today for children to play in a workplace, but it was not looked down upon back then.
My father worked at Carlsberg for 42 years, including as a chief controller. I grew up in the area in one of Carlsberg's workers' homes on Pasteursvej, where there is a hotel today. Following my father's footsteps, I got a job at the brewery. I started at Gammel Tap as a brewery worker in 1975, where I cleaned and whitewashed ceilings. The manager said I was the right height so they could save on the ladder allowance.”
I once whitewashed a ceiling in half a day. When the older brewery workers saw it, they scolded me and said it should take at least 14 days to paint that area. They cautioned me not to work too quickly, as there should be time to relax in the brewery's many cafeterias.
”I worked in distribution from 1979 to 1981. We had a district each where we sold beer directly from the car, unlike today, where customers pre-order their goods. As a new employee in distribution, we were always tested with difficult tasks. For instance, we were assigned to deliver beer in Nyhavn, where there were low ceilings and narrow stairs. It was one of the toughest places to deliver beer, and it was incredibly difficult to manoeuvre a sack truck on the many cobblestones and stairs.
My colleague and I were assigned to the Nørrebro district. We would leave at 6:30 every morning and usually finish by noon. We always planned our route so that we could end up at a pub for lunch and make an account of the day.
It was a tough job – we had to carry two cases of beer on our shoulders at a time. However, we finished early, and working in distribution was some of the best years of my working life.”
Birgit Jensen
Title: Brewery worker
Employed: 1962-1975
”I worked at the soda factory where I placed dirty bottles on the conveyor belt and inspected them for dirt. The finished soda bottles were then placed into wooden crates by hand. It was challenging work, mainly because each crate held 50 bottles.
After finishing the evening shift, we would occasionally go out. I often used the excuse that we had to work overtime because we were responsible for washing the elephants. My mother believed it. My father did not.
I used to live with my parents in Vesterbro. In 1964, I moved to Ballerup outside Copenhagen, and my daughter, Solvej, attended Carlsberg's kindergarten. My shift began at 6 AM, and I commuted with Solvej on the S-train. However, the kindergarten was closed on Saturdays, so it was challenging to find childcare when I was working. With the help of supportive colleagues, I was able to arrange for their family members to look after Solvej during those times.
The working environment among us female brewery workers at the soda factory was excellent. After work, we attended quite a few demonstrations for equal pay in front of the Confederation of Danish Employers. Several of us had children in Carlsberg's kindergarten, so we picked them up and brought them along to the demonstration.
The machines at the soda factory had to be automated when we switched to plastic crates. The women who operated the machines were supposed to be replaced by men, but we were not okay with that. We decided to stop working. We tried to get help from the women at Ny Tap and Gammel Tap, but they wouldn't. We kept our jobs, but when the same thing happened to Ny Tap and Gammel Tap, and the women wanted help from us, they didn't get it. The men took over the machines in the beer production.”
Birgit is 86 years old today and still lives in Ballerup outside Copenhagen.
Birgit Jensen's daughter, Solvej, attended Carlsberg's kindergarten, Carlsberg's Children's Home, from 1963 to 1967. The kindergarten, which was inaugurated in 1948 by Queen Ingrid, consisted of both a nursery and a kindergarten, making it possible for female workers to manage their everyday lives. About the daycare center, Solvej Buchleithner says:
”They took great care of us. We enjoyed a lot of fresh air and went on many trips to Søndermarken and Frederiksberg Garden. We used to sing whenever we passed through the Elephant Gate. We had hot meals for lunch, and there was a dental clinic set up above the playrooms where we got our teeth fixed.
When I was in kindergarten, my mother was a single parent, and many other children in the kindergarten also had single mothers. Thanks to the children's home, the mothers had the opportunity to work, as it wasn't common for women to have jobs back then. Some kids at home in Ballerup used to say to me: "She doesn't look like a real mother." The other mothers would go down to the laundry in dressing gowns with curlers in their hair. In contrast, my mother had short hair, wore trousers, took part in demonstrations, and commuted to work by train. This was unusual for the suburbs. Many of the other girls in the daycare centre also had short hair like me. I really wanted to have long hair, but there was no time to style it.”
Ivan Larsson
Title: Brewery worker, distribution driver, tourist bus driver, guide, lecturer
Employed: 1970-2017
”I was only supposed to make a little money for 14 days, but it turned into 47 years at Carlsberg.
I am a trained decorator and sign painter and, therefore, started at the sign workshop. After a few years, I joined distribution and got a permanent car.
Those who didn't have a permanent car sat at a table where crew members were taken in case of sickness. Extra manpower was assigned to other tasks. Some were assigned to the 'plug hole,' where they pulled up old beer and soda and poured them directly into the sewer.
After receiving our orders, bills, scolding, and sometimes compliments, we headed to our cafeteria, where we refreshed ourselves with coffee, cheese, and soft-boiled eggs. Later on, we picked up our cars. In the early days, I drove an open car in Vesterbro. You might assume that a lot was stolen, but no, there was strict discipline among the locals.”