Thomas Salt & Co. Ltd Ceramic Matchstriker

Thomas Salt & Co. Ltd ceramic matchstriker dating from the 1910s.

Thomas Salt Maltster & Brewer

Thomas Salt established a maltings business in 1774 adjacent to Joseph Clay & Sons brewery.
Clay's brewery was at that time one of the famous 'nine common brewers of Burton-on-Trent'.
By 1789 Thomas Salt had started his own brewery on the High Street in Burton-on-Trent, which traded as Thomas Salt & Co.
He continued to brew independently and by 1800 he was also working for Clay's brewery as well as his own.
In 1804 Thomas Salt passed his own business to his son, also named Thomas Salt, who purchased the Clay Brewery around 1812.

Thomas Fosbrooke Salt Company Expansion

Thomas Salt Junior died in 1813 and the next generation, led by Thomas Fosbrooke Salt, continued to expand the Company.
With the existence of key trading routes from the River Trent to the East Coast ports, and a newly completed railway link between Derby and Birmingham, access to local and overseas markets was ideal.
Most importantly however, was the decision to brew Pale Ale in the 1820s. Salt's Pale Ale had a superb reputation and indeed the overall quality of Burton water attracted a number of London brewers in the 1870s like Charringtons, Trumans and Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd.

The Maltese Cross Trade Mark

In 1876 the Company registered its 'Red Maltese Cross' trade mark becoming one of the most famous of all trade marks, after the 'Red Triangle' of Bass.

The 4th Largest Brewer in Burton-on-Trent

By the 1880s Burton-on-Trent had become the undisputed capital of brewing with Salt & Co. being the 4th biggest brewer after Bass, Worthington, and Samuel Allsopp & Sons Ltd.
In the second half of the 19th Century business flourished.
In 1853 Thomas Fosbrooke Salt's son-in-law, Henry Wardle, joined the business. Thomas's sons Edmund and William also became directors of the Company.
Between 1861 and 1888 Salt's workforce more than doubled from 194 to over 400.
Salt's Pale Ale had become famous all around the world.
Salt's had also established a presence in London, and its ale stores were a prominent feature of the St. Pancras Station facade which is still standing today.
in 1884 Salt's was one of a number of invited brewers asked to promote its Pale Ales at the International Health Exhibition held in South Kensington, under the patronage of Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales.
As a direct result of the exhibition Salt's added the word 'Health' to the centre of its trade mark.

Thomas Salt & Co. Ltd Registration & Financial Difficulties

In 1893 the Company was registered as Thomas Salt & Co. Ltd.
Trade however was beginning to prove more difficult.
The Temperance Movement had swayed the public to some extent against brewers and, supported by the Liberal Party, had led to legislation which reduced the number of licensed premises, which was particularly damaging to those breweries dependent on the free trade, Salt's being one.
Other breweries purchased their own tied houses much earlier than Salt's and, although by 1900 the Company had acquired a wide geographical spread of around 300 tied houses, strategically it had missed the boat.
Despite the acquisitions of other breweries and accompanying tied houses, like John Bell & Co. Ltd in 1902, a steady decline in beer drinking meant that by 1907 Thomas Salt & Co. Ltd went into voluntary liquidation.
The Company was financially restructured and continued to trade but after the First World War rising competition and costs could not delay the inevitable.

Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd Takeover

In 1919 the Company purchased the Crescent Brewery of Burton-on-Trent and its public houses.
In 1927, despite struggling on, Salt's was purchased by Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd.
Both the High Street Brewery and Salt's other brewery in Hartshorne, acquired from Brunt, Bucknall & Co. Ltd in 1919, were closed shortly afterwards.
The High Street Brewery was demolished in 1965 to create a new shopping centre.
Better news however is that the old Salt's well is still running under the streets of Burton-on-Trent, and is being used by Molson Coors UK today.
The only building remaining from the original Salt's business is the Walstitch Maltings, or Wharf Road Tower, which was built in 1870 and abandoned in the 1960s.
After significant refurbishment brewing recommenced at the Tower Brewery in 2001, and the Salt's brand name has been resurrected too.

The manufacturer's mark states - T.G.Green & Co. Ltd England The Property of T.Salt & Co. Ltd Burton-on-Trent