James Hole & Co. Ltd Square Tin

James Hole & Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1960s.

James Hole Acquires the Castle Brewery

Caparn Hankey & Co. brewed at the Robin Hood Inn on Lombard Street in Newark-on-Trent in 1870.
Caparn Hankey & Co. purchased a site on Albert Street in Newark-on-Trent in 1879. Here the firm built a large brewery which began operating in 1882.
In 1885 Caparn Hankey & Co. ceased trading when the Castle Brewery was purchased by maltster, James Hole.
The Company was registered as James Hole & Co. Ltd in 1890.

20th Century Trading

Hole's quickly developed a reputation for brewing quality beers with its 'A.K. Luncheon Ale' one of the best known in the East Midlands.
The Company acquired the Market Rasen Brewery Co Ltd, with 33 tied houses, in 1926, and Lowe, Son & Cobbold Ltd St. Michael's Brewery of Stamford, with 34 tied houses, in 1935.
James Hole's business traded successfully for over one hundred years becoming a target for a takeover by larger brewer.

Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd Takeover

The Castle Brewery, with 220 public houses, was acquired by Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co. Ltd in 1967.
The Company was renamed Courage Ltd in 1970.
The business was acquired by the Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd in 1972 which built a vast new state-of-the-art Berkshire Brewery at Worton Grange, near Reading, in 1978. As a direct result, brewing ceased at the Castle Brewery in 1983.
The brewery was redeveloped into luxury apartments.