Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd Metal Menu Holder

Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd metal menu holder dating from the 1950s.

Foundation of Ind's Romford Brewery

The foundation of Edward Ind's Romford Brewery is unclear. What is certain is that it did not originate from the Star Inn owned by George Cardon in 1709, as is consistently documented, as the inn was not built until many years later.
A more credible story is that Edward Ind Senior purchased a Romford brewery operated by Edward Thomas Carder and his family. There is no factual evidence for when or how Edward Ind Senior started his Star Brewery but it is likely that it was in 1799.
Carder stayed on to assist the young Ind for a few years but he died in 1802.
Ind was certainly a leading brewer by 1805.
At that time Edward Ind Senior and John Grosvenor were joint owners. There was a change in ownership in 1816 when John Grosvenor sold his share to John Smith and the firm began to trade as Ind & Smith.

Ind, Coope & Co.

In 1845 Edward Ind Snr died, and young Edward Ind joined in partnership with Octavious and George Coope, after John Smith had sold his interest in the business.
By the mid-1850s the Company was trading as Ind, Coope & Company.
In 1856 Ind, Coope & Co. opened a brewery in Burton-on-Trent, and the business was registered in 1886 as Ind, Coope & Co. Ltd.
The Burton-on-Trent brewery was based on the North side of the station on Station Street, adjoining Samuel Allsopp & Sons Ltd, whilst the stores and cooperage were based on the South side.
Four malt houses were located on the West side of the station.
During a period of rapid growth in the late 1800s the Company acquired the Brentwood Brewery of Jeremiah Hill & Co. with 31 public houses, and expanded the Star Brewery in Romford. It quickly become the third largest brewer in Burton-on-Trent.
In the early part of the 1900s the Company experienced extremely difficult trading conditions and was forced into receivership in 1909. The business was restructured and the name changed to Ind, Coope & Co. (1912) Ltd.

Ind, Coope & Co. Ltd

The name reverted back to Ind, Coope & Co. Ltd in 1923 and its fortunes completely turned around.
Bindley & Co. Ltd of Burton-on-Trent had been purchased with 72 public houses in 1915, followed by further acquisitions including Robinson's Brewery Ltd of Burton-on-Trent with 135 public houses in 1920, Woolf's Ltd of Crewe with 42 public houses in 1923, the Colchester Brewing Co. Ltd in 1925, the Burton Brewery Co. Ltd in 1927, the All Saint's Brewery Co. (Leicester) Ltd in 1929, Budden & Biggs Brewery Ltd of Stroud with 66 public houses, and Leeds City Brewery Ltd with 56 public houses, in 1931. Through these acquisitions Ind, Coope & Co. Ltd considerably increased its pub estate.

Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd

The expansion did not stop there, and in 1934 Ind Coope took over Samuel Allsopp & Sons Ltd, to form Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd.
Allsopps owned three breweries, one on Station Street adjacent to the Ind Coope brewery, a lager brewery on Burton High Street, and a brewery in Alloa.
The High Street lager brewery had been damaged by fire in 1916 and was not repaired. It occasionally brewed until 1934 when production ceased altogether and the buildings were leased, to a shoe manufacturer and also to Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd for storage of hogsheads.
The Alloa Brewery continued to operate until 1998.
Allsopps also owned small bottling stores on Station Street, as did Ind Coope, whose bottling stores were located next to its four malt houses west of Station Street.
Towards the end of the decade, the Company owned 1,800 public houses throughout the Midlands, the South of England and Scotland.
After WWII the firm's expansion strategy continued with the acquisition of Parker's Burslem Brewery Co. Ltd with 468 public houses in 1948, the Wrexham Lager Beer Co. Ltd in 1949, Lonsdale & Adshead Ltd of Macclesfield with 43 public houses, in 1950, and Trouncer & Co. Ltd of Shrewsbury, with 63 public houses, in 1956.
By 1948, due to buoyant sales of its flagship 'Double Diamond' bottled beer, a state-of-the-art bottling plant and stores were added on Curzon Street, and three of the malt houses were consolidated into one.

Significant Acquisitions & the Formation of Allied Breweries Ltd

It was the purchase of Benskin's Watford Brewery Ltd with over 600 public houses, in 1957, which was its most significant acquisition to date.
The final takeover however was its largest. In 1959 Ind Coope purchased Taylor, Walker & Co. Ltd at Limehouse in London, with 1,360 public houses and off-licences.
In the same year, the name Ind Coope & Allsopp was simplified to Ind Coope Ltd.
In 1961 Ind Coope Ltd merged with Ansells Brewery Ltd and Tetley Walker Ltd. The amalgamated Company was named Allied Breweries Ltd in 1963.
Allied Breweries Ltd closed Samuel Allsopp's Station Street brewery in the 1970s, and part of the offices were used as the headquarters of Punch Taverns Ltd.
Allied Breweries Ltd merged with the food and catering company J.Lyons & Co. to form Allied-Lyons plc in 1978. Allied-Lyons plc closed Allsopp's Shobnall maltings in 1982.
A modernisation project, which began in 1983, led to the bottling and canning facilities on Curzon Street being moved to the main site. The last tanker delivery of beer from the brewery to Curzon Street was in 1987, and the buildings are now part of the Imex Business Centre, which was created in 1991.
The Allied-Lyons brewing business merged with Carlsberg and became Carlsberg-Tetley Brewing Ltd in 1992.
Also in 1992, the Star Brewery in Romford was closed and brewing of Ind Coope Best Bitter was transferred to Burton-on-Trent. The Star Brewery buildings were redeveloped into a shopping centre.
Carlsberg-Tetley sold the Burton brewery to Bass Charrington Ltd in 1997, and after a further series of takeovers and name changes, it is now owned by Molson-Coors Brewing (UK) Ltd.
It still operates as the Burton North Brewery.