Newcastle Breweries Ltd Small Round Enamel

Newcastle Breweries Ltd enamel tray dating from the 1930s.

The Amalagamation of Five Breweries

Newcastle Breweries Ltd was registered in 1890 to acquire five North East brewing businesses.
The firms were John Barras & Co. Ltd Tyne Brewery of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, William Henry Allison's High Brewery of North Shields, James, John & William Henry Allison Monkwearmouth Brewery of Sunderland, Swinburne & Co. of Gateshead, and Carr Brothers & Carr of North Shields.
The newly formed Company owned 215 licensed houses.
Brewing was centralised at the Tyne Brewery which was considered to be one of the best equipped breweries in the North East.
The Company's first Managing Director was Thomas Watson Lovibond, an experienced man within the brewing industry, who was Chairman of the Brewers Society in 1899 and 1900.

Early 20th Century Expansion

After its incorporation the Company expanded quickly and five further breweries were purchased by 1919, which were W.H.Falconar & Co. Ltd Howden Brewery of Howden-on-Tyne in 1894, John Sanderson & Sons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1898, Forsters' Bishop Middleham Brewery Ltd in 1910, Addison Potter & Son of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1918, and Matthew Wood & Son Ltd Market Place Brewery of South Shields in 1919,
In 1913 the Company launched its Blue Star trade mark, the five points representing each of the five breweries that combined to form Newcastle Breweries Ltd.
The logo became famous when brewing of Newcastle Brown Ale began in 1927. Assistant brewer, Colonel Porter, developed Newcastle Brown Ale as a high quality beer to fill a state-of-the-art bottling plant which had been built in 1925. By 1928 production of 'Newky Brown' exceeded six million bottles a year and it was named best bottled ale at the Brewers Exhibition in London. Colonel Porter was promoted to Head Brewer as a result and became Chairman in 1955.

Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd

After the Second World War, the Company continued to grow and it acquired the Northern Corporation Ltd in 1955, and two Scottish breweries, the Duddingston Brewery of Edinburgh, owned by Steel, Coulson & Co. Ltd with 360 public houses in 1954, and James Deuchar Ltd Lochside Brewery of Montrose in 1956.
Local brewer John Rowell & Son Ltd of Gateshead was purchased in 1959.
Newcastle Breweries Ltd merged with Scottish Brewers Ltd in 1960 to form Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd.
In 1986 the Company acquired Home Brewery Ltd of Daybrook near Nottingham with 447 public houses. The brewery operated until 1996.
Matthew Brown & Co. Ltd of Blackburn with 550 tied houses was acquired by S&N in 1987 and brewing ceased in 1992.

Scottish Courage Ltd

In 1995 S&N purchased Courage & Co. Ltd from Australian brewers Fosters, to become the UK's biggest brewer.
The new Company traded as Scottish Courage Ltd. In 2003 it acquired Bulmers Ltd cider business together with its cider mill and orchards in Hereford.
Having decided to close the Fountain Brewery, once owned by William McEwan & Co. Ltd, Scottish Courage Ltd acquired a 30% stake in the Caledonian Brewery Co. Ltd in 2004. This became 100% ownership in 2008.
The Company purchased the Northern Clubs Federation Brewery Ltd of Dunston in 2004, and all brewing was transferred there in 2005. The Tyne Brewery was closed.
In 2008 Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd was jointly purchased by Carlsberg and Heineken, and the assets were split by them.
In 2009 the name was changed to Heineken UK Ltd which now owns the Company.

The manufacturer's mark states - Regicor