Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd tin tray dating from 1957.<\/p>\n
The Fountain Head Brewery Early Years<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The Fountain Head Brewery was founded in Ovenden Wood, Halifax, by John Mitchell in 1820. Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd Registration & Expansion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In 1890 the business was registered as Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd. The Watney Mann Ltd Takeover<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A sought after reciprocal partnership with Watney Mann Ltd in 1962 led to a friendly take over of Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd with its 288 public houses in 1972, but not before Websters itself had acquired the Northbrook Brewery of J.Hey & Co. Ltd with 75 public houses, in 1966. The manufacturer’s mark states – Reginald Corfield Ltd Lombard Road, London. S.W.19. 572 Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd tin tray dating from 1957.
\nThe brewery was being operated by Samuel Webster in 1838 and he opened an office in Union Cross Yard soon afterwards.
\nThe Company purchased its first public house in 1845.
\nIn 1860 Samuel was joined in partnership by his three sons Isaac, George Henry, and Samuel Green and the firm began trading as Samuel Webster & Sons.
\nSamuel Webster died in 1872, leaving his sons to continue the business.
\nBy 1880 the Company owned 100 tied houses.<\/p>\n
\nThe Company continued to grow and in 1896 it acquired the Bridgate Brewery of H & T.T.Ormerod of Brighouse.
\nIn 1900 the Company’s office was moved to Northgate in Halifax and a new French Chateau-influenced maltings was built in the same year.
\nAlthough trading proved difficult before and during the First World War, the introduction of new beers, including Webster’s Green Label, steaded the finances.
\nIn 1933 the Company acquired local competitor Joseph Stocks & Co. Ltd with 79 public houses.
\nWebsters purchased John Ainley & Son Ltd, with its Wapping Spring Brewery and 19 public houses in 1957, and Daniel Fielding’s White Castle Brewery, with 19 public houses, in 1961.<\/p>\n
\nWatney Mann Ltd was itself acquired by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1972 which invested in a new brewhouse in 1973 and a new lager plant in 1979.
\nSamuel Webster & Sons Ltd and Wilson’s Brewery Ltd were merged to form Samuel Webster & Wilsons Ltd in 1985.
\nWilson’s Brewery was closed down in 1986 and both its mild and bitter beers were transferred to Webster’s Fountain Head Brewery.
\nBy 1988 Webster’s was a huge concern supplying 1,000 Northern pubs.
\nThe brewery was expanded in 1988 and in 1989 the derelict former maltings, which had been closed in 1960, were converted into new offices. Also, a new distribution centre was constructed in Elland.
\nMoving out of the brewing industry, Grand Metropolitan sold Webster’s to the Courage Group, owned by Fosters, in 1990.
\nThe Webster’s brand suffered under Courage’s ownership and deteriorated further when Scottish & Newcastle Breweries Ltd acquired Courage from Foster’s Brewing Group to form Scottish Courage Ltd in 1995.
\nScottish Courage Ltd owned John Smith’s Tadcaster Brewery Co. Ltd which outsold Webster’s threefold, resulting in the inevitable closure of the Fountain Head Brewery in 1996.
\nIn 2004, Fountainhead Village was built on the former brewery site and the Old Maltings reopened as a children’s nursery in 2007.
\nDuring the 2000s and 2010s the Webster’s brand survived but its owner Silvan Brands Ltd ceased using it in 2015.<\/p>\n
\nThe item featured also has a the image of another tray which is not in my collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nThe Fountain Head Brewery was based in Halifax, West Yorkshire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9996,"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-4276","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\/4276","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=4276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=4276"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=4276"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=4276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}