Melbourn Bros. Ltd Round Tin

Melbourn Bros. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1960s.

Origins of the All Saints Brewery

There is evidence that brewing occurred in All Saints Street, Stamford in the early years of the nineteenth century, and then a new All Saints Brewery was built in 1825.
William Brown Edwards was the first brewer and he and his family ran the All Saints Brewery until 1857 when it was passed to Frederick Phillips, who in turn was followed by Elmer Brown in 1859.

The Melbourn Brothers

The successful business was purchased by a farmer, Herbert Melbourn, in 1869 and he was joined in partnership by his brother Stanley.
Trading as Melbourn Brothers, its early sales were generated by private customers and farmers in the local area.
The firm began to expand by supplying and leasing local public houses.
Before the turn of the century parts of the brewery were rebuilt, a chimney was added, and some plant was modernised.
By 1912 the firm had depots in Grantham, Lincoln, Leicester, and Whittlesey.
By 1923 the Melbourn Brothers owned or leased 22 public houses.
The partnership was dissolved in 1924 when Herbert retired and the brewery was run by a head brewer and manager. For financial reasons the Grantham and Lincoln depots were closed.

Melbourn Brothers Ltd

The 1930s was a difficult time for the firm but its wine & spirits business managed to offset losses sustained from brewing.
The Company was registered as Melborn Bros. Ltd in 1936.
Melbourn's Pinnacle Pale Ale was awarded Brewers' Championship Beer of the Year in 1950.
The business continued to survive, however in 1974, faced with high replacement costs for existing plant, the Company ceased to brew.
Initially its 32 public houses were supplied by Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster) Ltd until these were sold to J.W.Cameron Ltd in 1987.
Part of the brewery became a working museum and later Samuel Smith's re-introduced brewing of its fruit beers using antique steam brewing equipment.
Currently the brewery is closed.