Wells & Winch Ltd Ceramic Ashtray

Wells & Winch Ltd ashtray which probably dates from the 1930s. The business was established on Church Street in Biggleswade when Samuel Wells purchased the Kings Arms Inn with a brewhouse and malting. Samuel Wells died in 1781and one of his sons, also named Samuel, inherited the firm. Samuel's sons in law, Robert Lindsell and William Hogg, later joined the business as partners, and the Company traded as Wells & Co. By 1831 the Company had acquired an estate which totalled 46 public houses. The brewery was sold to George Winch in 1899 with over 100 public houses. Wells & Winch Ltd, was registered in 1899 and in1903 the old brewery was demolished and a new modern brewery was built on the Church Street site. Offices were also built on the High Street in Biggleswade. In 1902 Wells & Winch Ltd purchased the Henlow Brewery of John Holden with 10 public houses. The Company continued to expand by acquiring other brewing businesses. In 1904 it purchased the larger Baldock Brewery Ltd with 26 tied houses, and added Day & Son's Priory Brewery with 42 public houses in 1920. When the Winch family started to lose interest in the business they appointed Alfred John Redman as a manager in 1915 and in 1922 he became Managing Director. He was responsible for the purchase of Newland & Nash Ltd of Bedord in 1923 with 75 public houses, which almost doubled the size of the business. The brewery was extended again in the late 1920s and local competitor Higgins & Sons of Bedford was acquired in 1928 with 55 public houses. When Hudson's (Cambridge & Pampisford) Breweries Ltd was purchased in 1931, and the Cambidge public houses of Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd and E,J.Wickham's Mill Bridge Brewery were purchased in 1938, Wells & Winch Ltd controlled 383 pubs across 8 counties. Alfred Redman died in 1948 leaving the running of the business to his two sons, Dudley and Jack Redman. They opened a new bottling plant in 1952 but trading was becoming increasingly more difficult. Dudley Redman died in 1960 and in 1961 Wells & Winch Ltd's brewery, with 287 public houses, was acquired by Greene King & Sons Ltd. The Company was restructured and began trading as Greene King (Biggleswade) Ltd. It ceased brewing in 1997 and the brewery was demolished. The manufacturer's mark states - James Green & Nephew Ltd Designers Manufacturers Stoke & London Made in England.