{"id":4119,"date":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/?post_type=product&#038;p=4119"},"modified":"2025-10-30T11:04:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:04:49","slug":"s-h-ward-co-ltd-round-tin","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/product\/s-h-ward-co-ltd-round-tin\/","title":{"rendered":"S.H.Ward &#038; Co. Ltd Round Tin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>S.H.Ward &amp; Co. Ltd tin tray dating from 1953.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Foundation of the Brewery Business<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In 1837 William Roper and John Kirby founded the Sheaf Island Brewery on Effingham Street in Sheffield.<br \/>\nRoper died in 1842 leaving John Kirby in sole control. He was joined by George Wright in 1860.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Septimus Henry Ward<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Septimus Henry Ward joined the Company in 1868 when it ran into financial trouble.<br \/>\nDue to the substantial amount he had invested, the primary brand was renamed Wards Best Bitter and the Sheaf trade mark was registered in that year.<br \/>\nGeorge Wright left the partnership a year later.<br \/>\nTrading as Kirby, Ward &amp; Co., the business continued to expand by buying up other breweries and associated public houses.<br \/>\nIn 1876, it purchased the Soho Brewery of William Bradley &amp; Co. on Ecclesall Road in Sheffield. All brewing was transferred to the Ecclesall Road site and it was renamed the Sheaf Brewery.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>S.H.Ward &amp; Co. Ltd Registration<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The business was registered as S.H.Ward &amp; Co. Ltd in 1896.<br \/>\nThe Company continued to expand in the twentieth century by acquiring and restoring public houses.<br \/>\nThis was halted by the onset of the Second World War due to lack of materials.<br \/>\nThe brewery was hit by three bombs in 1940, causing the death of four of its workers.<br \/>\nDespite these setbacks, it recovered and after the end of the war it continued restoring pubs.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Vaux &amp; Associated Breweries Ltd Takeover and Closure<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Sheaf Brewery, with 102 tied houses, was acquired by Vaux &amp; Associated Breweries Ltd in 1972.<br \/>\nAs a result of bad management and sheer greed by Vaux&#8221;s directors, both the Vaux brewery in Sunderland and Ward&#8217;s Sheaf Brewery in Sheffield were forced to close in 1999.<br \/>\nMembers of the Vaux founding family, the Nicholsons, attempted a management buyout of Wards but their offer was rejected.<br \/>\nThe land was sold to developers who demolished most of the original buildings to make way for luxury apartments.<br \/>\nIt was revealed later that the price achieved was several million pounds less than the buyout offer that would have saved the brewery.<\/p>\n<p>The manufacturer&#8217;s mark states &#8211; &#8216;Hancor&#8217;, Mitcham, London. Printed in England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>S.H.Ward &amp; Co. Ltd tin tray dating from 1953.<br \/>\nThe Sheaf Brewery was based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[378],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4119","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-england-1950s","8":"first","9":"instock","10":"shipping-taxable","11":"purchasable","12":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/4119","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=4119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}