Worthington & Co. Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the 1920s.<\/p>\n
Origins of the Worthington Brewing Business<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In 1744 William Worthington worked as a cooper at Joseph Smith’s brewery on the High Street in Burton-on-Trent. Rapid Expansion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The firm expanded rapidly both in the home and export markets and in 1866 it was awarded a Royal warrant by the Prince of Wales. Worthington & Co. Ltd Registration<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The Company was registered as Worthington & Co. Ltd in 1889. Amalgamation With Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Lt<\/strong><\/em>d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Arthur Manners was the architect of a merger with the firm’s arch rival, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd in 1927. Closure of the Brewery<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The original Worthington brewery was closed in 1967, although brewing of Worthington White Shield, in both its bottled and draught form, and Worthington E keg beer, continued to be brewed by Bass. Worthington & Co. Ltd. Worthington & Co. Ltd black backed steel tray dating from the 1920s.
\nIn 1760 Worthington purchased the brewery from Smith’s successor, Richard Cummings.
\nDuring the eighteenth century, the majority of Worthington’s sales were through the export of porter ales to the Baltic market. As a result, by the time of Worthington’s death in 1800, Worthingtons was one of the largest provincial breweries.
\nWorthington’s eldest son, also named William, assumed control of the business and when he died in 1825, his son William became the owner.
\nFrom 1829 Worthingtons started to brew Pale Ale which replaced porter as its best selling beer.
\nIn 1839 the Company took advantage of the new railway system in Burton-on-Trent, enabling it to its distribute beers throughout the country.
\nIn 1842 William Worthington was joined in partnership by Thomas Robinson and the business traded as Worthington & Robinson. When the partnership was dissolved in 1864, two of Worthington’s sons joined the Company, and it traded as Worthington & Co.<\/p>\n
\nWorthington labelled its beers with alpabetical letters with ‘E’ being an India Pale Ale.
\nThe Company’s blood red heart shield and dagger logo was introduced in 1863.
\nBy 1888 Worthington was the third largest Burton brewer after Bass and Allsopp.
\nIn the 1880s the Company began to acquire public houses which provided a captive market for its products.<\/p>\n
\nBy 1890 the firm’s bottling operations were one of the biggest in the country.
\nWhen the fourth William died in 1894, he was the last Worthington to manage and own the Company.
\nBy 1900 the majority of Worthington’s shares were owned by William Manners, and under his leadership the Company acquired a reputation for the quality of its bottled pale ales.
\nIn 1901 Worthington & Co. Ltd acquired Smith’s Brewery Co. Ltd of Hull with 50 public houses.
\nThe Burton Brewery Co. Ltd sold its brewery on the High Street in Burton-on-Trent to Worthington & Co. Ltd in 1915 but retained all of its public houses.
\nWhen William Manners died in 1915 his two sons, Arthur and Ernest, ran the business.
\nThe Company purchased Sydney Wells & Sons of Kegworth with 25 public houses in 1925.<\/p>\n
\nThe amalgamation was described as ‘the biggest non-merger in the history of the brewing industry’. Apart from greater co-operation in bottled beer production and distribution, there were few economies and the two Companies continued to operate as separate entities.
\nProduct rationalisation began after the Second World War with Chairman Arthur Manners deciding to prioritise Bass products.
\nTrade suffered, but Worthington & Co. Ltd did purchase the Wenlock Brewery Co. Ltd in London with over 120 public houses. The Wenlock Brewery remained operational until 1962.<\/p>\n
\nWorthington & Co. Ltd owned nearly 500 public houses when it closed.
\nThe brewery and its maltings were demolished in 1968, later becoming a shopping precinct and a public library.
\nWorthington regained its position as the leading brand for Bass plc from 1997, predominantly through its Creamflow product.
\nAfter Bass was taken over by Belgian brewer Interbrew in 2000, the Competition Commission ordered it to divest in a number of brands resulting in the purchase of Worthington by Coors, later named Molson Coors in 2005.
\nIn 2004 Coors announced that it would no longer advertise Worthington on a large scale resulting in the demise of the once famous brand.
\nIn 2010 Worthington White Shield started to be brewed at a microbrewery within the National Brewery Centre in Burton-on-Trent, and due to its popularity, production moved to the main Molson Coors brewery in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nThe brewery was based on the High Street in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[641,375],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3742","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-highlighted-items","7":"product_cat-england-1920s","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/3742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=3742"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=3742"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=3742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}