Arthur Guinness, Son & Co. Ltd Round Tin

Arthur Guinness, Son & Co. Ltd tin tray dating from 1959.

Arthur Guinness 1725 to 1803

In the mid-1750s Arthur Guinness started brewing ales in Leixlip, County Kildare, moving to the St James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, in 1759. The 34 year old signed a 9,000 year lease on a brewery previously owned by Mark Rainsford. It was a big risk as the brewery was abandoned and many other breweries were competing for the same water supply.
In addition to a small range of ales, Arthur Guinness also brewed porter, which at that time was new to the Irish market.
By 1769 Arthur Guinness ceased brewing ales and concentrated all his efforts on the production of porter, cornering the Irish market and capturing a share of the English trade, revolutionising the brewing industry at the same time.
Arthur Guinness died in 1803 leaving his son, Arthur Guinness II, to inherit the business.

Expansion Brewing Stout

The brewing of stout, a stronger and more full bodied version of porter, began in the early 1820s.
In 1825 Guinness was available abroad and by 1838, Guinness's St James Brewery was the largest in Ireland.
The firm's famous Harp Motif was adopted in 1862 and registered as a trade mark in 1875.
In 1881 the annual production of Guinness had surpassed one million barrels, and by 1914 St. James's Gate was the world's largest brewery.
As a result of the Anglo-Irish trade war, Guinness decided to move its headquarters to London in 1932,
whilst brewing continued in Dublin at St. James's Gate.

New Headquarters & New Park Royal Brewery in London

In the early 1930s Guinness was exporting a million barrels a year from Dublin to Britain, making economic sense to set up a new brewery and headquarters in West London.
The slogan 'Guinness is Good for You' was well established by that time.
The art deco Park Royal Brewery was built between 1933 and 1936, and was fully operational by 1937. The brewery buildings were all one hundred feet high and made of distinctive brown brick, each with inter-connecting bridges.
At its peak in the early 1960s, the Park Royal Brewery was producing a staggering 1.6 million barrels of stout per annum, eight times more than any other large brewery at that time.

Famous Advertising

Before the 1930s Guinness produced almost no advertising, instead using word of mouth to sell its products.
In the face of falling sales, Guinness was responsible for some of the most memorable marketing campaigns ever produced, especially during the 1930s and 1940s.
The most notable and recognisable series of advertisements was created by the firm S.H.Benson Ltd, primarily drawn by the artist John Gilroy.
Benson's created posters that included slogans such as 'Guinness for Strength', 'Lovely Day for a Guinness', 'Guinness Makes you Strong', and 'My Goodness My Guinness', to name a few.
Most famous were Gilroy's cartoon characters, especially those with zoo animals accompanied by their zookeeper.
His most widely recognised adverts involved the Guinness toucan which first appeared in 1935.

Guinness, the Modern Era

The Company name changed to Guinness plc in 1982.
In 1997 Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan plc to create a new Company, Diageo.
Diageo ceased the production of Guinness at the Park Royal Brewery in 2005, transferring all brewing back to the Dublin site.
The Park Royal Brewery site was demolished in 2006.
In 2018 Guinness opened its first brewery in 64 years in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
The St. James's Brewery continues to operate as one of the most profitable beweries in the world, although sadly there are no longer any Guinness family members on the board.
The Guinness Storehouse, a brewery museum and the 'Home of Guinness', is Dublin's most popular tourist attraction.