Watney Mann Ltd Round Tin

Watney Mann Ltd tin tray dating from the late 1950s. The history of Watney Mann Ltd involves two prominent London breweries. The Stag Brewery of Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd in Victoria was founded in 1641. In 1858 it was owned by James Watney who purchased a second brewery in Mortlake in 1889. In 1898 Watney & Co. Ltd amalgamated with Combe & Co. Ltd, and Reid's Brewery Co. Ltd to form Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd, becoming the largest brewing business in London. Watney's expanded rapidly and it acquired sixteen breweries between 1890 and 1955 with about 2,000 public houses. In 1826 the Albion Brewery near Mile End Road in Whitechapel was purchased by Philip Betts Blake and James Mann. By 1847 Robert Crossman and Thomas Paulin had joined new owner James Mann and traded as Mann, Crossman & Paulin. The Albion Brewery was completely rebuilt and by 1863 was one of the most advanced in the brewing industry. The Company was registered as Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd in 1901. Between 1919 and 1938 Mann's acquired six breweries becoming one of Britain's largest brewers. Watney Combe Reid & Co. Ltd merged with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd in 1958 to form Watney Mann Ltd. Watney's Stag Brewery, based in Victoria, was closed in 1959 and brewing was concentrated at Mann's Albion Brewery and at Watney's other brewery in Mortlake. In 1959 the Stag Brewery name was transferred to the Mortlake brewery which had originally been purchased in 1889. Reid's Stout was brewed at the Stag Brewery in Victoria. in 1961 Guinness paid Watney Mann Ltd £28,000 (equivalent to £0.5m today) to discontinue brewing its Reid's Stout. Watney Mann Ltd had an appetite for purchasing and amalgamating with substantial breweries throughout Britain. It began in 1960 when it merged with Usher's Wiltshire Brewery Ltd of Trowbridge with 900 public houses, and Wilson's Brewery Ltd of Manchester with 1,124 public houses. In the same year Phipps Northampton Brewery Co. Ltd was acquired with 1,171 public houses. In 1963 Watney Mann Ltd acquired three Norwich breweries, Morgan's Brewery Co. Ltd's Old Brewery, Bullard & Sons Ltd's Anchor Brewery, and Steward & Patteson Ltd's Pockthorpe Brewery. Steward & Pattson Ltd also owned a second brewery in Ely. Drybrough & Co. Ltd of Edinburgh was the Company's only Scottish brewery when it was acquired in 1965 with 441 public houses. In 1968 it purchased and soon closed Beverley Brothers Ltd of Wakefield with 173 public houses. The Anchor Brewery was closed in 1968, the Ely Brewery was closed in 1969, and the Pockthorpe Brewery was closed in 1970. Despite these closures Maes and Grimbergen breweries were purchased in Belgium. Watney Mann Ltd was acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1972. Grand Metropolitan Ltd immediately closed Phipps Northampton Brewery which was later replaced by the modern site owned by Carlsberg Brewery UK Ltd. In 1972 Grand Metropolitan purchased Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd of Halifax with 288 public houses. Watney Mann Ltd was merged with Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd in 1974 to form Watney Truman Ltd. The remaining Morgan's Old Brewery began trading as the Norwich Brewery Ltd in 1976 but it too closed in 1985. The once prominent Mann's Albion Brewery was closed in 1979. In 1985 Webster's and Wilson's breweries were merged to form Samuel Webster & Wilsons Ltd. Wilson's Newton Heath brewery was closed. The two Belgian breweries were sold in 1986, and Drybrough's was sold to Allied-Lyons in 1987. Brewing continued at Usher's Wiltshire Brewery until it was purchased by way of a managment buy-out in 1991. In 1995 Anheuser-Busch became the new owners of the Stag Brewery in Mortlake. Apart from the Stag Brewery, the only remaining brewery was Samuel Webster's Fountainbridge Brewery of Halifax which closed in 1996. The Stag Brewery in Mortlake was earmarked for closure in 2009 by AB InBev, however this did not happen until the end of 2015. In 2022 the site is part of an ambitious redevelopment project which is in a consultation phase, led by Reselton Properties Ltd, a Singaporean backed company. The manufacturer's mark states - 'Hancor',Mitcham