Cheltenham Original Brewery Co. Ltd Round Black Backed Steel

Cheltenham Original Brewery Co. Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the late 1930s. The business, and the Cheltenham Orginal Brewery based on the High Street, was founded in 1760 by J.T.Agg-Gardner. The Company was registered as the Cheltenham Original Brewery Co. Ltd in 1888 to acquire the business of J.T.Agg-Gardner. in 1897, a fire almost completely destroyed the brewery which had to be rebuilt. reopening the following year. Between 1898 and 1930 the Cheltenham Original Brewery Co. Ltd purchased and closed eight local breweries, seven in Gloucestershire and one in Worcestershire. In 1945 the Company acquired the Hereford & Tredegar Brewery Ltd and its Imperial Brewery. The merged company was re-registered as Cheltenham & Hereford Breweries Ltd in 1946. The business was re-registered and renamed Cheltenham Brewery Holdings Ltd in 1956. Cheltenham Brewery Holdings Ltd acquired Spreckley Brothers Ltd, based in Worcester, and the Stroud Brewery Co. Ltd in 1958, forming West Country Brewery Holdings Ltd in 1959 renamed West Country Breweries Ltd in 1961. Spreckley's Worcester Brewery was closed in 1960. The Company and its 1,300 tied houses was acquired by Whitbread & Co. Ltd in 1963 and the Imperial Brewery formely owned by Hereford & Tredegar Brewery was closed that year. West Country Breweries Ltd was liquidated in 1964 although the name continued to be used until 1968 when Whitbread & Co. Ltd merged the business with Flowers Breweries Ltd and renamed the company Whitbread Flowers Ltd. Brewing ceased at both the Stroud and Flowers breweries in 1969 and at the old Cheltenham Original Brewery in 1998. The site was demolished in 2004 and is now a shopping centre.