An agency rang the other day wanting to know if I’d be interested in Dray work.I get the impression that delivering kegs to pubs and clubs would be exceedingly hard physical work,would I be correct ?
Don’t you get a ‘drivers mate’ aswell though?
Every truck i’ve seen delivering kegs to pubs has had one.
Being a dray man can be hard but you will get a mate to help you as it would be impossible to unload kegs on your own safely. If you dont like hard work then dont take the job! you dont have to be fit to be a dray man because you will adapt to the job as you do any job if you want to. It isnt just kegs either, imagine pulling up to a city centre pub and only access is down a hole in the floor down an alley 30 feet off road so you have to carry 100+ cases of bud/stella to the hole and down the shoot after rolling 20-30 barrels the same distance and then rolling them down the shoot while one catches them on the mat, they make it look easier then it is but you’ll get used to it and it isnt a bad job. Which brewery if you dont mind me asking? I am thinking of leaving my current job and might be interested if there is any taking on 
It’s hard physical graft. You’ll sleep well for the first few weeks.
I did it for 5 years, through an agency.
OllieNotts has described it fairly well, but they ain’t barrels normally, they’re kegs 
A barrel holds 36 gallons of beer, a keg is only 11 . (A hogshead is 45, but it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll see one). There are several other sizes you’ll get to know quite intimately 
They are all round, so you can roll them and cases of bottles etc will all go on a barrow, so there’s a minimum of actual carrying.
You can do two loads a day, depending on the brewery and the area you’re covering. That can mean doing your share of handballing up to 20 tonnes a day off the dray and into cellars. There are all the empties to go back on too, without blocking up the back of your wagon so you can’t get anything off.
Before starting a job as a drayman you’ll need a bit of training. There’s a technique to handling kegs and barrels, if you don’t have a clue as to what your doing you could easily do yourself serious and permanent injury. The training was a one day course when I did it, I think its two days now.
Here’s a clue to why. 1 gallon of water weighs 10 lb.
One perk of the job, which may have fallen by the wayside now, was that I never had to buy beer from an off-licence. My fridge was always well stocked. But, that was when breweries employed draymen, it’s another ‘logistics company’ job now, generally 
OllieNotts:
Being a dray man can be hard but you will get a mate to help you as it would be impossible to unload kegs on your own safely. If you dont like hard work then dont take the job! you dont have to be fit to be a dray man because you will adapt to the job as you do any job if you want to. It isnt just kegs either, imagine pulling up to a city centre pub and only access is down a hole in the floor down an alley 30 feet off road so you have to carry 100+ cases of bud/stella to the hole and down the shoot after rolling 20-30 barrels the same distance and then rolling them down the shoot while one catches them on the mat, they make it look easier then it is but you’ll get used to it and it isnt a bad job. Which brewery if you dont mind me asking? I am thinking of leaving my current job and might be interested if there is any taking on
No idea which brewery,I was contacted by an agency called First Step (Wigan) if thats any use .
The job has been described very well I did it for eight weeks two years ago I left because the company was very lax in the maintenance of the vehicles certainly at the depot I was at.
The company I worked for expected you to load yourself when you got back to the yard, during the day you would deliver about 10 ton of drink then get back and load another 10 ton on tou your lorry for the next day.
Other companies will unload and reload you the one I worked for expected you to do it all.
Deathstar:
OllieNotts:
Being a dray man can be hard but you will get a mate to help you as it would be impossible to unload kegs on your own safely. If you dont like hard work then dont take the job! you dont have to be fit to be a dray man because you will adapt to the job as you do any job if you want to. It isnt just kegs either, imagine pulling up to a city centre pub and only access is down a hole in the floor down an alley 30 feet off road so you have to carry 100+ cases of bud/stella to the hole and down the shoot after rolling 20-30 barrels the same distance and then rolling them down the shoot while one catches them on the mat, they make it look easier then it is but you’ll get used to it and it isnt a bad job. Which brewery if you dont mind me asking? I am thinking of leaving my current job and might be interested if there is any taking onNo idea which brewery,I was contacted by an agency called First Step (Wigan) if thats any use .
Chances are DHL/exel I think are St Helens or Kirby, or K+N around Appleton.
There is a knack to the job, 1st month you will be aching and knackered and probably questioning yourself, but once you get used to it youll be reet.
Deathstar:
OllieNotts:
Being a dray man can be hard but you will get a mate to help you as it would be impossible to unload kegs on your own safely. If you dont like hard work then dont take the job! you dont have to be fit to be a dray man because you will adapt to the job as you do any job if you want to. It isnt just kegs either, imagine pulling up to a city centre pub and only access is down a hole in the floor down an alley 30 feet off road so you have to carry 100+ cases of bud/stella to the hole and down the shoot after rolling 20-30 barrels the same distance and then rolling them down the shoot while one catches them on the mat, they make it look easier then it is but you’ll get used to it and it isnt a bad job. Which brewery if you dont mind me asking? I am thinking of leaving my current job and might be interested if there is any taking onNo idea which brewery,I was contacted by an agency called First Step (Wigan) if thats any use .
Not really 
Mw dad was a dray man fro home ales for 20 years and I was a manager for wetherspoons before driving so kind of know a bit on it thats all.
I wouldnt mind doing it me self now as at the minute my current employer is err getting worse to work for is all I can say.
I would jst say go for it and good luck better then sitting on your arse all day 
sounds like wigan beer (nr corkhills vw) or dhl tradeteam in knowsley ind estate , you will have a 2nd man as a helper they used to deliver to a pub i used to manage , never heard of any complaints from the job tbh .
al_P:
, you will have a 2nd man as a helper they used to deliver to a pub i used to manage , never heard of any complaints from the job tbh .
Or you could be the 2nd man / helper / porter, whatever they are called around your neck of the woods, for the first few shifts.
‘OI’ is quite popular too
done the city of london for six months loads of handball kept me fit and you do look quite cool when you know how too handle the kegs etc ,used too impress the city birds when i used too sack barrow full load of beeers wines water etc down curved stairs ,that it self is an art