Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd Round Bakelite

Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd bakelite tray dating from the early 1950s. The Company and its Salford Brewery was founded in 1799 by Thomas Dutton and his son William. The business traded as Thomas Dutton & Son until 1872 when the name changed to Dutton & Co. The Company was registered as Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd in 1897. At the turn of the century the business was struggling, however after WWI, fortunes turned for the better. From the 1920s through to the 1950s Duttons acquired nine breweries. Significantly a local competitor, the Blackburn Brewery Co. Ltd and its 100 public houses was puchased in 1928. When the Kirkstall Brewery Co. Ltd of Leeds was acquired in 1936, the Company managed to gain a foothold in the Yorkshire market. The takeover of John Mercer Ltd of Adlington, also in 1936, enabled Duttons to adopt the 'Mercer's Meat Stout' brand name. Its last acquistion was the public houses of Selby (Middlesbrough) Brewery Ltd in 1964 just before the Company itself was taken over that year. The Salford Brewery and the pub estate of nearly 800 houses was acquired by Whitbread & Co. Ltd in 1964 and was operated as Whitbread West Pennines Ltd until its closure in 1978. The Salford Brewery was demolished in 1986 and is now a supermarket.