G.Ruddle & Co. Ltd Round Tin

G.Ruddle & Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the late 1960s.

Foundation of the Langham Brewery

Richard Westbrook Baker founded the Langham Brewery, near Oakham, Rutland, in 1858.
Richard died in 1861, and the business, which employed 10 men, passed to his younger son, Edward George.
Both Richard and Edward employed an agent, James Edward Harris, to run the brewery.
By 1876, Edward had retired and George Harrison became the owner of the Langham Brewery.
George Harrison died in 1881, when the business was acquired by the partnership of Boys & Styles.
By 1886 Boys & Styles passed the Langham Brewery to George Harrison's nephew, Henry Harrison Parry.
The Company traded as H.H.Parry & Co. from 1886 to 1909.

The Ruddle Connection

In 1896 Parry employed George Ruddle as his brewing manager. He had trained at Fordham's brewery in Ashwell, and married Nora Fordham.
After Parry's death in 1909, the Langham Brewery, with 13 public houses and 6 off-licences, was offered for sale.
George Ruddle bought the business in 1911, and he increased trade considerably, enabling him to pay off all his debts by the early 1920s.
Unfortunately in 1923, George Ruddle died aged only 48.
In 1924, George Kenneth Fordham Ruddle, later Sir Kenneth, took over the business.
Ruddles continued to brew high quality ales for which it was awarded silver and bronze medals, and diplomas, for its mild and pale ales, and first and second prizes at the 1929 Brewers' Exhibition.
During the 1930s the firm invested in a new mechanised bottling plant, including crown corks replacing traditional corks. There was also an expansion of the estate.
At that time Ruddles County was brewed as a mild.

G.Ruddle & Company Ltd Post-Registration Trading

The Company was registered as G.Ruddle & Co. Ltd in 1945, with Sir Kenneth Ruddle as its Chairman.
During the 1940s, the Company increased its number of public houses to 38.
In 1950, Ruddles County was re-introduced as a strong bitter, a decision which proved to be inspired when, in 1952, County gained a Brewing Exhibition win for the best cask beer.
In 1957, a new bottling hall was built.
After two years training at Whitbread & Co. Ltd, Sir Kenneth's son, Tony Ruddle, joined the business in 1959. Tony took over the running of the Company in 1970, and he soon doubled output.
In 1977 Ruddles further extended the brewery, once again doubling its output, and by now the Company employed 100 workers.
Ruddles was the first brewery in Britain to use wide-mouthed bottles from which it supplied its County and Blue, later renamed Bitter in 1984, into a number of large supermarkets.

Ruddles Takeovers

Although Tony Ruddle was confident that the business was safe from a take-over, as the family owned more than 50% of the shares, preditors were looming.
All but one of Ruddles 35 tied houses were sold off in 1978, the vast majority to Everard's Brewery Ltd.
Ruddles continued to brew independently for the next eight years, and although it lost a few key accounts, profits continued to increase. Indeed, a three year expansion plan was announced in 1983, including the rebuilding of the brewhouse tower.
Sadly, Ruddles only remaining tied house, and its brewery tap, the Noel Arms, was sold in 1984.
In 1986 the business was purchased by Watney, Mann & Truman Breweries Ltd, then owned by Grand Metropolitan plc, which changed the name to Ruddles Brewery Ltd the following year.
A new high-tech racking plant was installed in 1989.
The Company changed hands in 1991 when Courage & Co. Ltd purchased the brewery, however its ownership was brief, and the business was sold to Grolsch in 1992.
The business was renamed the Grolsch Ruddles Brewing Company, with its headquarters at Andover, in Hampshire.
Once again the Company changed ownership in 1997 when Morland & Co. plc acquired the brewery. Sadly, the Langham brewery was closed in 1999, when all production was transferred to Abingdon, in Oxfordshire.
The site was demolished for a new housing development in 2005.
Morland & Co. plc was acquired by Greene King & Sons Ltd in 2000 resulting in the Ruddles brands, including Ruddles County, being owned and brewed by them. The taste was never the same.