Watney Mann Ltd Round Tin

Watney Mann Ltd tin tray dating from the late 1950s.

Background

Watney Mann Ltd involves the merger of two prominent London breweries.
Watney, Combe, Reid & Co Ltd amalgamated with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd in 1958.
Below is a history of the two companies before and after the merger

The Stag Brewery of James Watney

The Stag Brewery was founded in Victoria, London, by William Greene in 1641.
In 1837 James Watney became a partner in the business, and by 1858 he was in complete control.
He was joined by his sons, James and Norman, in 1856.
The Company was registered as Watney & Co. Ltd in 1885.
Watney's acquired the Mortlake Brewery of Phillips, More & Co. Ltd in 1889, Carter, Wood & Co.'s Artillery Brewery in 1890, and the Saffren Walden brewery of William Day & Co. in 1895.

Amalgamation of Watney & Co. Ltd, Combe & Co. Ltd and Reid's Brewery Ltd

In 1898 Watney & Co. Ltd amalgamated with Combe & Co. Ltd, and Reid's Brewery Co. Ltd to form Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd, becoming the largest brewing business in London.
All brewing was concentrated at Watney's Stag Brewery and production ceased at Reid & Co. Ltd's Griifin Brewery in 1899 and at Combe & Co. Ltd's Woodyard Brewery in 1905.
Before the First World War the Company purchased Woodbridge & Co.'s Yorkshire Stingo Brewery of London W1 with 125 public houses in 1907, J.E.Dawes & Co. of Thames Ditton and John Samuel Bligh's Holmesdale Brewery of Sevenoaks with 27 public houses in 1911.
Watney's significantly expanded its empire in the 1920s when it acquired five large breweries. Purchases included the Chelsea Brewery Co. with 60 public houses in 1920, Ashby's Cobham Brewery with 56 public houses in 1922, the Isleworth Brewery Ltd with 228 public houses in 1924, Huggins & Co. Ltd's Lion Brewery in 1928, and the London & Burton Brewery Co. Ltd of Stepney in 1929.

Watney, Combe. Reid & Co. Ltd Further Acquistions & Keg Beer

In 1931 the Company introduced Britain's first keg beer which had the ability to remain saleable for a longer period than draught beers and to travel long distances for the export market. This was the forerunner to Watney's infamous Red Barrel keg beer which dominated the British market in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1943 Watney's acquired William Cooper & Co. Ltd of Southampton with 125 public houses which it continued to operate until 1950.
Crowley & Co. of Alton was acquired in 1947 and it remained brewing until 1970.
When the Stockwell Brewery of Charles Hammerton & Co. Ltd was acquired in 1951 it was renamed Watney's Bottling Stores and the Hammerton brand name was retained until the beginning of the 1960s.
Tamplin & Sons Ltd of Brighton with 400 public houses was taken over in 1953, Henty & Constable Ltd of Chichester with 247 public houses was purchased in 1953, and Venning & Sons Ltd of Liskeard was acquired in 1955. Watney's vast British empire was not yet complete.

The Formation of Mann, Crossman & Paulin

The Albion Brewery was built near Mile End Road, Whitechapel, in 1808 by Richard Ivory, the landlord of the Blind Beggar pub.
Its first brewer was John Hoffman who went bankrupt.
The brewery was offered for sale and was purchased by Philip Betts Blake and James Mann in 1819.
The Company traded as Blake & Mann until 1826 when Blake retired and it was then purchased outright by James Mann.
In 1843 his sons, James and Edward were admitted as junior partners and the Company traded as Mann & Sons. His third son, Thomas also worked at the brewery.
Edward and his father both died in 1844 leaving James as the firm's sole owner.
James employed Robert Crossman as a partner in 1846 and the Company traded as Mann Crossman for less than a year. Then Thomas Paulin became a partner and the Company name was changed to Mann, Crossman & Paulin in 1847.

Mann, Crossman & Paulin Expansion

James Mann retired in 1847 leaving Thomas Mann as the owner of the firm.
The business went from strength to strength throughout the 19th Century and the Albion Brewery was rebuilt and modernised between 1860 and 1863, becoming one of the most advanced breweries of that time.
In 1865 the Company introduced its famous George & Dragon emblem which was officially registered as a trade mark in 1876.
By 1880 Mann, Crossman, Paulin & Company was the ninth largest brewery in the country.
As the Company continued to trade successfully, a new Burton brewery, also named the Albion Brewery, was built in 1875 and continued to brew on Shobnall Road until 1896.
The Company was registered as Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd in 1901 and new bottling stores were built at Raven Row, originally the site of a Whitechapel workhouse.
The Burton-on-Trent site was sold to Marston, Thompson & Evershed Ltd in 1902.
Between the two World Wars, the Company pursued a policy of acquisition.
In 1919 it acquired the Stamford Hill Brewery of Mitchell, Goodman, Young & Co. Ltd.
Brandon's Brewery Ltd of Putney, with 76 public houses, was acquired in 1920 and brewing continued there until 1949.
Best's Brewery Co. Ltd of Clapham, The Hornchurch Brewery Co. Ltd, and Henry Luker & Co. Ltd of Southend-on-Sea, were purchased in 1924, 1925 and 1929 respectively, adding a further 50 public houses to the Company's estate.
The final acquisItion, that of Benjamin Bennett's Dunstable brewery, with 59 tied houses, was completed in 1938.
During the Second World War the brewery suffered bomb damage and sadly the stables took a direct hit, killing and injuring many of its famous shire horses.
In 1956 the Company purchased a few public houses in Coventry, however Mann's beers did not suit the Midlands palate, resulting in a distribution agreement with Atkinsons Brewery Ltd of Birmingham whereby Atkinsons sold Manns' bottled beers and Manns sold Atkinsons' draught beers in their respective tied houses.
The popularity of the Mann's Brown Ale brand has enabled it to survive and it is now brewed by the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company.

Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd Merger with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd

Watney Combe Reid & Co. Ltd merged with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd in 1958 to form Watney Mann Ltd.
Watney's Stag Brewery, based in Victoria, was closed in 1959 and brewing was concentrated at Mann's Albion Brewery and at Watney's other brewery in Mortlake.
In 1959 the Stag Brewery name was transferred to the Mortlake brewery which had originally been purchased in 1889.

Watney Mann Ltd - Expansion Through Acquisitions

Watney Mann Ltd had an appetite for purchasing and amalgamating with substantial breweries throughout Britain.
It began in 1960 when it merged with Usher's Wiltshire Brewery Ltd of Trowbridge with 900 public houses, and Wilson's Brewery Ltd of Manchester with 1,124 public houses. In the same year Phipps Northampton Brewery Co. Ltd was acquired with 1,171 public houses.
In 1963 Watney Mann Ltd acquired three Norwich breweries, Morgan's Brewery Co. Ltd's Old Brewery, Bullard & Sons Ltd's Anchor Brewery, and Steward & Patteson Ltd's Pockthorpe Brewery. Steward & Pattson Ltd also owned a second brewery in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Drybrough & Co. Ltd of Edinburgh was the Company's only Scottish brewery when it was acquired in 1965 with 441 public houses.
In 1968 it purchased and soon closed Beverley Brothers Ltd of Wakefield with 173 public houses.
The Anchor Brewery was closed in 1968, the Ely Brewery was closed in 1969, and the Pockthorpe Brewery was closed in 1970.
However overseas expansion saw Maes and Grimbergen breweries purchased in Belgium.

Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd Takeover

Watney Mann Ltd was acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1972.
Grand Metropolitan Ltd immediately closed Phipps Northampton Brewery which was later replaced by the modern site owned by Carlsberg Brewery UK Ltd.
In 1972 Grand Metropolitan purchased Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd of Halifax with 288 public houses.
Watney Mann Ltd was merged with Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. Ltd in 1974 to form Watney Truman Ltd.
The remaining Morgan's Old Brewery began trading as the Norwich Brewery Ltd in 1976 but it too closed in 1985.
The once prominent Mann's Albion Brewery was closed in 1979.
In 1985 Webster's and Wilson's breweries were merged to form Samuel Webster & Wilsons Ltd. Wilson's Newton Heath brewery was closed.
The two Belgian breweries were sold in 1986, and Drybrough's was sold to Allied-Lyons in 1987.
Brewing continued at Usher's Wiltshire Brewery until it was purchased by a managment buy-out in 1991.
In 1995 Anheuser-Busch became the new owners of the Stag Brewery in Mortlake.
Apart from the Stag Brewery, the only remaining brewery was Samuel Webster's Fountainbridge Brewery of Halifax which was closed in 1996.
The Stag Brewery in Mortlake was earmarked for closure in 2009 by AB InBev, however this did not happen until the end of 2015.
Since 2022 the site has been part of an ambitious redevelopment project which is in a consultation phase, led by Reselton Properties Ltd, a Singaporean backed company.

The manufacturer's mark states - 'Hancor',Mitcham