Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries Ltd Round Tin

Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s.

The Amalgamation of Three Breweries

The Elm Brewery of Southsea was founded by John Miles in 1840.
By 1874 the Company was trading as John Miles & Son.
William Thomas Dupree, who had been a partner at the Phoenix Brewery in Southsea, purchased both Alexander Stannard's Beehive Brewery of Portsmouth, which had been founded by Thomas Weeks in 1832, and George Henry Dean's Cosham Steam Brewery in 1895.
In 1896 Sir William Thomas Dupree registered a new Company, Portsmouth United Breweries Ltd with 86 public houses, to acquire the Elm Brewery, the Beehive Brewery, and the Cosham Steam Brewery.
William Thomas Dupree had closed the Beehive Brewery in 1895 and brewing continued at both the Elm Brewery and the Cosham Brewery.
When the Elm Brewery was rebuilt in 1898 the Cosham Brewery became surplus to requirements, and it was sold to Ernest Whicher & Co. of Portsmouth.

20th Century Acquisitions

In the early 1900s Dupree's eldest sons, William and Vernon, entered the business.
A shortage of space led to the Company purchasing the Crown Brewery of Henry Bransbury & Co. of Landport in Portsmouth with 40 public houses in 1902, and converting it into a bottling store.
By 1915 the firm owned over 200 public houses in the Portsmouth area.
Despite the Company losing many of its men on active service during the Great War, the Company doubled its profits when it won a major contract to supply the Army and Navy.
The Company acquired Hobbs & Co. of Gosport with 11 public houses in 1913, Toomes Crossroads Brewery of Durrington in 1917, and the Sea Horse Brewery of Biden & Co. Ltd of Gosport in 1918.
Lush & Co. Ltd of Portsea, with its St Georges Brewery and 44 public houses, was purchased in 1924, but more significantly the Company changed its name to Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries Ltd in 1927 when it acquired the Rock Brewery (Brighton) Ltd with over 100 public houses.
The Rock Brewery was closed in 1928.

Brickwood & Co. Ltd Takeover

The style of public houses owned by the Company evolved into some of the most attractive designs ever seen. The pubs were clad in green tiles often with colourful pictures.
When its charasmatic leader, Sir William Dupree, died suddenly in 1953, an offer was made for the business by local rival Brickwood & Co. Ltd.
The Elm Brewery, with 271 public houses, was acquired by Brickwood & Co. Ltd in 1953.
It continued brewing until 1962 when it was converted into a mineral water factory as one of Brickwood's subsidiaries.
The buildings were demolished in the 1980s.

The manufacturer's mark states - Reginald Corfield Ltd Lombard Road, London. S.W.19.