{"id":4722,"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=4722"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:07:46","slug":"john-fowler-co-ltd-square-tin-2","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/product\/john-fowler-co-ltd-square-tin-2\/","title":{"rendered":"John Fowler &#038; Co. Ltd Square Tin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John Fowler &amp; Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The Origins of Fowler&#8217;s Brewing Firm<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In 1745 Robert Fowler purchased a brewery, which had been established in Prestonpans in 1720. Robert passed the brewery to his son, John Fowler, at the turn of the 19th century.<br \/>\nJohn, or &#8216;Laird Fowler, as he was more commonly known, gained a reputation for brewing entirely by thumb which appeared to increase rather than decrease the quality of his ales.<br \/>\nJohn soon required extra capacity, and in 1820 he built a new brewhouse.<br \/>\nThe subsequent profits generated from the Old Brewery enabled John to build a new brewery on the North side of the High Street, close to the the Old Brewery, absorbing a site that was once a distillery.<br \/>\nWhen John died in 1839, the business was inherited by his nephew, Robert Hislop, who had been the manager of the High Street brewery for a considerable time.<br \/>\nIn 1850 the firm introduced its &#8216;Preston Cross&#8217; trade mark, a famous landmark of Prestonpans.<br \/>\nRobert&#8217;s son, John Fowler Hislop, inherited responsibility for Fowler&#8217;s brewery when his father retired in 1865.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>John Fowler &amp; Co. Ltd Registration<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Although he had once worked in a brewery, John became a staunch follower of the Temperance Movement and for this reason he sold the brewery.<br \/>\nThe Company was incorporated as a new business, John Fowler &amp; Co. Ltd in 1865.<br \/>\nIn 1867 Robert Hislop sold his shares resulting in both the Fowler and Hislop familes no longer having an interest in the brewery that they had founded and grown .<br \/>\nBy the end of the century the White family had acquired a majority of the shareholding of the Company.<br \/>\nFor new directors there was a distinct emphasis on brewing high quality bottled beers.<br \/>\nThe Company traded steadily for the next 50 years gaining a reputation for its strong bottled ales.<br \/>\nBetween the wars, the Company&#8217;s main strategy was to re-invest in the buildings and plant, providing a solid platform on which to build after the Second World War.<br \/>\nBy the end of the 1950s John Fowler &amp; Co. Ltd was in a good financial position with a strong repuation for its beers, making it a target for takeover.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd Takeover<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of its directors, Captain James Patton Younger, was also a director of Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd, as well as holding four other brewery company directorships.<br \/>\nThe Company, with 36 public houses and 2 hotels, was acquired by Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd in 1960.<br \/>\nFowlers was grouped with William Murray &amp; Co. Ltd of Edinburgh, and George Younger &amp; Son Ltd of Alloa, becoming Caledonian Breweries Ltd, the Scottish management arm of Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd.<br \/>\nA month later the Company was renamed United Caledonian Breweries Ltd when John Jeffrey &amp; Co. Ltd was acquired.<br \/>\nBrewing ceased in Prestonpans in 1962, although the malthouse was used until 1964.<br \/>\nAll assets were transferred to United Caledonian Breweries Ltd on 1st January 1963.<br \/>\nThe brewery site was converted into residential and commercial property, whilst the maltings have become Prestonlinks Shopping Centre.<br \/>\nThe Fowler&#8217;s name was resurrected in 2004 by Fowler&#8217;s Ale (Prestoungrange) Ltd microbrewery located at the Gothenburg pub in Prestonpans.<\/p>\n<p>The manufacturer&#8217;s mark states &#8211; Reginald Corfield Ltd Lombard Road London S.W.19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Fowler &amp; Co. Ltd tin tray dating from the 1950s.<br \/>\nThe brewery was based in Prestonpans, Lothian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[388,21],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4722","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-scotland-1950s","7":"product_cat-wanted","9":"first","10":"outofstock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/4722","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=4722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=4722"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=4722"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brewerytrays.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=4722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}