J.W.Green Ltd Black Backed Round Steel

J.W.Green Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the 1920s.

John William Green & The Phoenix Brewery

A small brewery in a private house on Park Street in Luton was operating in 1816. The house, which had a malting and kiln, was sold by Daniel Brown to William Adams. When William Adams died his children sold the business to wine merchant and brewer, Henry Pearman in 1853.
A new larger Phoenix Brewery was built on the same site, at the back of the wine & spirit business, by Henry Pearman, in 1857.
Henry Pearman ran the wine & spirit merchants and Frederick Pearman ran the Phoenix Brewery.
John William Green joined the Pearmans aged 14 years in 1863.
When John William Green inherited money from his grandfather he purchased the brewery in 1869. The wine & spirit business was not included in the sale.
The firm traded as John William Green and in 1875 it bought Wadsworth & Thaire's brewery on Market Hill in Luton.
Local competitor, Thomas Sworder, was purchased with 58 public houses in 1897.
The Company, with an estate which totalled 96 licensed houses, was registered in 1897 as J.W.Green Ltd.
In 1898 J.W.Green Ltd purchased local rival the Luton Brewery Co. Ltd with over 50 public houses.

The Acquisitions Years

In 1919 the Company purchased the Peacock Brewery of Glover & Sons Ltd in Harpendon with 19 public houses.
This was followed by the acquisition of W & S Lucas Ltd of Hitchin, with 52 tied houses, in 1920.
In 1926 it bought Morris & Co. (Ampthill) Ltd with 72 public houses.
John William Green died in 1932.
The final purchase before the Second World War was the Swan Brewery of Adey & White Ltd in St. Albans, with 56 public houses, in 1936.
After the war the Company's strategy of expansion by acquisitions continued apace.
In 1948 it purchased E. & H.Kelsey Ltd with its Culverden Brewery and 84 public houses, followed by the takeover of J. & J.E.Phillips Ltd of Royston, with 150 tied houses, in 1949.
The 1950s saw Greens acquire four large businesses. Soulby, Sons & Winch Ltd of Alford, with 144 tied houses, was puchased in 1951, Fenwick & Co. Ltd of Sunderland owned by George Younger & Son Ltd, was purchased with 101 public houses in 1952, Mowbray & Co. Ltd of Grantham with 200 public houses, was taken over in 1952, and the Ashwell Brewery of E K & H Fordham Ltd, with 91 public houses, was also acquired in 1952.
After the purchase of E K & H Fordham Ltd J.W.Green Ltd owned an estate of over 1,000 public houses.
When J.W.Green Ltd acquired Flower & Sons Ltd of Stratford-upon-Avon with over 250 public houses in 1954 the Company's name was changed to Flowers Breweries Ltd.
Mowbray's Grantham Brewery, which was named Flowers Breweries (East Midlands) Ltd in 1959, ceased brewing in 1964.

The Whitbread Takeover

The Phoenix Brewery was acquired by Whitbread & Co. Ltd in 1961.
Flower's Stratford-upon-Avon brewery was closed in 1968, and the Phoenix Brewery was closed in 1969 when Whitbread & Co. Ltd built a massive new brewery on Oakley Road in Luton.
The Company was renamed Whitbread Luton.
Most of the Phoenix Brewery on Park Street was demolished in 1977 and in 1984 the Oakley Road site was also closed when Whitbread's ceased brewing to concentrate on its retail business.

The manufacturer's mark states - Hancock, Corfield & Waller Ltd Mitcham London