Whitbread & Co. Ltd Ceramic Ashtray

Whitbread & Co. Ltd ceramic ashtray dating from the 1930s.

Samuel Whitbread

The business was founded in 1742 when Samuel Whitbread formed a partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell. They acquired the Goat Brewhouse, a small concern at the junction of Old Street and Upper Whitecross Street, and another brewhouse for their pale and amber ales, in Brick Lane, Spitalfields.
Godfrey Shewell withdrew from the business when Thomas and Samuel purchased the derelict Kings Head Brewery in Chiswell Street, in 1750.
The new brewery was for the specific production of porter, and was named the Hind Brewery after the Whitbread family's coat of arms.
By 1758, the firm was the largest porter brewer in Britain.
In 1761 Samuel Whitbread became the sole owner of the business.
By the 1780s Whitbread had become the largest brewery in the world.
Samuel Whitbread was a pioneer of new brewing techniques and in 1784 he installed the first ever brewery steam engine at the Chiswell Street brewery, designed by the famous engineer James Watt.

Whitbread & Co.

When Samuel Whitbread died in 1796 his son. also called Samuel, took over the running of the business and traded as Whitbread & Co.
In the early decades of the nineteenth century the firm had a difficult time trading, but in 1868 the introduction of bottled beers by Samuel Whitbread accelerated the Company's turnaround.
In the 1870s Whitbread's famous Hind's Head trademark was introduced.
In 1889 it was registered as Whitbread & Co. Ltd.

Whitbread & Co. Ltd - Aggressive Aquisitions Strategy

Before the First World War Whitbread's began its aggressive takeover journey to become the king of mergers and acquisitions in the brewing industry.
It acquired five breweries in the London area including H. & V.Nicholl Ltd in 1891, which it converted into a bottling plant and distribution centre. This was operated by Whitbread's until 1980.
The First World War dented production but the business survived.
During the 1920s Whitbread's acquired four breweries including the Mackeson Brewery from Jude, Hanbury & Co. Ltd.
Mackeson's Stout continued to be brewed in Hythe until 1968 and the brand name still exists today.
In 1940 Whitbread's ceased brewing porter due to its decline in popularity and a need to rationalise its product range following damage caused to a number of its breweries during the Second World War.

Whitbread & Co. Ltd - Acquistions Continue as a Public Company

In 1948, William Whitbread was responsible for the Company becoming public and it was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
During the 1950s Whitbread's purchased a further six breweries throughout Britain but this paled in comparison to its takeovers in the 1960s.
Whitbread & Co. Ltd reshaped the look of the brewing industry when it acquired a staggering 21 breweries across Britain.
The most significant brewery acquisitions included Flowers Breweries Ltd of Stratford-upon-Avon and Luton in 1961, Tennant Brothers Exchange Brewery with 700 tied houses in Sheffield in 1961, Norman & Pring Ltd of Exeter with 102 public houses in 1962, Starkey, Knight & Ford Ltd of Bridgwater with 400 tied houses in 1962, and West Country Breweries Ltd of Cheltenham with 1,300 tied houses in 1963.
No brewery in England, Scotland or Wales was safe from Whitbread's aspirations, and acquisitions continued apace.
In 1963 J.Nimmo & Sons Ltd of Castle Eden was acquired with 202 tied houses, in 1964 Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd was taken over with 784 public houses, and in 1965 E.Lacon & Co. Ltd of Great Yarmouth was purchased with 354 public houses.
Threlfall Chesters Ltd of Salford and Liverpool was acquired in 1967 with 800 public houses, Bentley's Yorkshire Breweries Ltd of Woodlesford was taken over with 380 public houses in 1968, and Strong & Co. of Romsey Ltd was purchased with 940 tied houses in 1969.
These were the largest brewery acquistions, and many more were closed by Whitbread's during the 1960s.
It was in the 1960s that Whitbread's turned its focus to lager brewing. People's tastes were changing and in 1968 the Company agreed to brew Heineken under licence. Within three years it was selling 20% of the UK's lager market.
Whitbread & Co. Ltd was now the third largest brewer in Britain.
The Company purchased Brickwoods Ltd Portsmouth Brewery in 1971 with 675 public houses, its only acquisition in the 1970s.

Brewing Ends at Chiswell Street

The Company started to re-think its operational strategy and built on the first of three green-field sites at Oakley Park in Luton, its second in Samlesbury, Lancashire in 1972, and Whitbread Magor in South Wales in 1979.
All were massive state-of the art breweries.
In 1976 Whitbread & Co.Ltd ceased brewing at its Chiswell Street site, and the premises were converted into other uses, including a luxury hotel.
The Porter Tun Room became a conference centre.
Oakley Park in Luton became the Head Office.
In 1984 the brewing operations at Oakley Park in Luton were closed and the site was redeveloped.
The Company was already starting to diversify its activities before its last brewery acquisition, Boddington's Breweries Ltd of Manchester in 1989.
Throughout its history Whitbread & Co. Ltd purchased and closed over 40 British breweries.
After an earlier reorganisation, Dutton's Blackburn brewery operated as Whitbread West Pennines until 1978, Brickwood's brewery operated as Whitbread Wessex until 1983, and the brewery in Cheltenham operated as Whitbread Flowers Ltd until 1998.

Whitbread's Cease Brewing

In 2000 Whitbread's decided to sell all its breweries and brewing interests to Interbrew, now know as AB InBev.
In 2002 Whitbread's sold its pub estate, trading as the Laurel Pub Company, to Enterprise Inns.
The Company moved its Head Office from Luton to larger offices at Whitbread Court in Dunstable in 2006.
Whitbread PLC still owns and runs major brands such as Premier Inns, Table Table, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, and Whitbread Inns restaurants.
It no longer has any connections with brewing.