Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd Rectangular Tin

Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s.

Pole Street Brewery Preston & Early Acquisitions

The Company was founded at Pole Street in Preston, in 1830.
Matthew Brown & Co. successfully traded as wholesale brewers, maltsters and wine & spirit merchants.
The firm acquired all the licensed houses of Cunningham's & T.W.Thwaites Ltd of Blackburn in 1913, and purchased four small local breweries over a short period of time.
William Sharples Ltd with 28 public houses, and Hall, Hale & Co. Ltd with 28 public houses, both of Preston, were acquired in 1919 and 1920 respectively.
It then purchased Richard Holden Ltd's Nova Scotia Brewery of Blackburn in 1920, and William Unswoth's Balmoral Brewery of Hindley in 1924.
By 1927 Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd owned over 250 public houses and a number of off-licences.

Nuttall & Co. (Blackburn) Ltd Lion Brewery

Demand increased significantly and the the Company needed additional capacity for further growth. The Pole Street Brewery had no scope for expansion.
The Company's most significant brewery acquisition was that of Nuttall & Co. (Blackburn) Ltd with 172 tied houses in 1927.
Brewing was transferred to Nuttall's Lion Brewery on Coniston Road in Blackburn in 1928, and the Pole Street Brewery was closed.
The takeover was not popular in Blackburn, and as a result Nuttall's Red Lion Trademark was adopted in order to maintain brand consistency and placate local customers.

Futher Expansion Through Acquisitions

Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd continued to expand its presence in the North West of England both before and during the Second World War.
The Company acquired the Whittle Springs Brewery Ltd's Crown Brewery with 54 public houses in 1928, the Ribble Valley Brewery Co. Ltd with 12 tied houses in 1943, and the Cleator Moor Brewery Co. Ltd with 50 tied houses, in 1947.
Further acquisitions were focussed in the county of Westmorland. Brockbank & Sons Bank Springs Brewery of Kirkstanton, with 20 public houses, was acquired in 1954, and the Workington Brewery Co. Ltd, with 110 public houses, was purchased in 1975. This brewery was renamed the Lakeland Lager Brewery and continued to brew until its closure in 1988.
Matthew Brown's final acquisition was T.& R.Theakston Ltd of Masham, including the Carlisle Old Brewery Co. Ltd, in 1984.

Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd Takeover

Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd became the victim of a hostile takeover by Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd in 1987 and the Lion Brewery ceased brewing in 1991.
The only positive news during the control of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd was its sale of T. & R.Theakston Ltd back to the Theakston family in 2003.
It is still brewing successfully.

The tray featured is unusual in that it does have a black back but is not actually a pre-war tray.
Normally a black backed tray would indicate that it is a 1920s or 1930s tray but in this instance that is not the case.