Hoare & Co. Ltd Rectangular Black Backed Steel

Hoare & Co. Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the late 1920s.

The OrIgin & Early Years

The origins of the business, most famous for its Porter beer, possibly date back as far as 1492. The Red Lion brewhouse in East Smithfield was certainly operating in 1551, when it was mentioned in the will of brewer, Giles Harryson.
The modern era began when a new Red Lion brewhouse, was built in 1792. At that time the business traded as Goodwyn, Skinner & Thornton who brewed at 21 Lower East Smithfield.
It was the sixth largest brewer in London, although it was only half the size of its London competitors, Whitbread, Trumans, and Barclay Perkins, when production peaked around the turn of the century.
In 1802, Henry Hoare, a partner in a bank, loaned a significant amount for a share in the brewery for his son George Matthew Hoare.
The Company traded as Hoare & Co. inheriting a Toby Jug as its trade mark.
Henry Hoare died in 1829 when his interest in the brewery passed to his grandson, also named Henry Hoare.
By 1833, the Hoare family had purchased the freehold of the Red Lion Brewery.
A new partnership of Hoare family members was formed in 1873 and, by 1875, Frederick Wigan, a hop merchant, joined the business.
The Company's 'Red Lion' trade mark was registered in 1890.

Registration & Expansion

The Company was registered as Hoare & Co. Ltd in 1894 with 110 public houses.
By 1904 profits were declining and this trend continued under the leadership of Arthur Wigan when, in 1909, annual loss amounted to £1m.
In 1907 the firm adopted its famous 'Toby Jug' trade mark.
A new bottling plant was installed in 1908, proving to be a success in an otherwise failing business.
In order to enable a turnaround of the Company, from 1910 until 1930 Hoare & Co. Ltd became prolific purchaser of other breweries.
It acquired many, mainly London based, breweries during that period.
Its first purchases were a few pubs from Fox & Sons Oak Brewery of Farnborough, and the 8 public houses of Wooldridge & Sons Ltd of Tottenham, in 1910.
Shortly afterwards the Company acquired Golding & Co. of Sevenoaks in 1912, and Thunder & Little Ltd of Merton, with 13 tied houses, in 1914.
Shortly after the First World War it purchased Herbert Santer & Sons Ltd in North London,  A.C.Beaton & Co. of Lambeth, with 5 public houses, and A C S Crowley Ltd of Croydon, with 32 public houses, in 1919.
Acquisitions continued unabated in the 1920s.
These included the Lion Brewery Co. Ltd of Lambeth, with over 90 public houses, in 1923, the 6 public houses of the New Cross Brewery Co. Ltd of Lewisham, in 1925, Smith & Co. (Lamberhurst) Ltd, with 55 public houses, in 1926, most of the public houses from the City of London Brewery Co. Ltd, in 1926, and about 100 public houses of the Commercial Brewery Ltd of Stepney, in 1927.
West's Brewery Co. Ltd's Three Crowns Brewery of Bethnal Green, with over 60 public houses, and Page & Overton's Shirley Brewery of Croydon, were Hoare's final two purchases, in 1929.
Despite all these acquisitions, the Company was stuggling financially in 1931, and a punitive Government Budget caused a slump in sales from which the business never recovered.

Charrington & Co. Ltd Acquisition

The Red Lion Brewery, London's fourth largest, with over 600 public houses, was acquired by Charrington & Co. Ltd in 1933.
Brewing ceased in 1934.
Charrington & Co. Ltd immediately adopted Hoare's Toby Jug trade mark when it purchased the Company.
The Toby Jug trade mark continued to be used by Bass Charrington Ltd, within the Red Triangle trade mark after 1967, and is still used in the branding of 'Toby Inns'.
The Red Lion Brewery was demolished in 1935, and the Company was liquidated in 1938. The site became St Katherine's Way.

The tray featured is most probably a Hoare & Co. Ltd example produced just before the Charrington & Co. Ltd acquisition.
1920s Toby Jugs from Hoare's Brewery used the words "Ale & Stout" as advertised on this particular tray.