Ansells Brewery Ltd Round Copper

Ansells Brewery Ltd copper tray dating from the 1930s. Joseph Ansell opened a brewery and maltings on Park Road, Aston Cross, Birmingham in 1857. The Aston Brewery was originally registered as Joseph Ansell & Sons Ltd in 1889 but was re-registered as Ansells Brewery Ltd in 1901. In the years between 1890 to 1906, the brewery was extended on three occasions. During the 1920s and 1930s Ansells Brewery Ltd purchased four local breweries. One of the acquired breweries was the Holt Brewery Co. Ltd in 1934 from which it adopted the famous squirrel trademark. The Company's slogan, 'The Better Beer', had been created earlier in the 1920s. In the 1950s Ansells purchased two further breweries less local to Aston, including Lloyd's (Newport) Ltd, its only Welsh brewery. The rebuilding and modernisation of the Aston Brewery began in the 1930s but was interrupted by WWII and was not fully completed until the 1950s. Ansells Brewery Ltd, and its Aston Brewery, merged with Ind Coope Ltd and Tetley Walker Ltd in 1961. The newly merged Company was later renamed Allied Breweries Ltd in 1963. Allied Breweries Ltd and the J.Lyons Group merged in 1978 and became Allied-Lyons plc. The Aston Brewery closed in 1981 after a lengthy industrial dispute and all brewing was transferred to Burton-on-Trent.