IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 LMA/4435
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: ALLIED BREWERIES: MEUX'S BREWERY BRANCH
Date(s): 1884-1988
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 2.5 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Allied Breweries Ltd
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Ind Coope Tetley Ansell Limited was registered as a limited company in 1961 and was the result of a merger between Ind Coope Limited, Romford, Essex and Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Tetley Walker Limited, Leeds, West Yorkshire and Ansells Brewery Limited, Birmingham, West Midlands. In 1963 the company was renamed Allied Breweries Limited. The companies pooled there resources but still functioned independently. In 1968 the Showerings, Vine Products and Whiteways group merged with Allied Breweries. A new parent company, Allied-Lyons plc was established after the acquisition of J Lyons and Company Limited, a food manufacturing and distribution company.
Allied Breweries acquired numerous other companies including Wm Teacher and Sons Limited in 1976, United Rum Merchants Limited in 1984, and the Canadian group Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts Limited in 1984, which made Allied Breweries the leading international wines and spirits producer and distributor. This position was reinforced by the acquisition of James Burroughs Distillers in 1989 and the buy-out of Whitbread's 50 per cent holding in the companies joint venture company, European Cellars (Holdings) Limited. During the 1980s Allied Breweries began to fragment with various companies being sold off. The result was Allied Domecq which concentrated on wines and spirits. Allied Breweries pulled out of the brewing business around 1990.
The Horseshoe Brewery was founded before 1764 and was situated at 269 Tottenham Court Road, London. The business was purchased by Sir Henry Meux after a dispute at his previous business, Reid, Meux and Company, resulted in him leaving. The Horseshoe Brewery had previously been managed by Blackburn and Bywell. The brewery traded under the name Henry Meux and Company. Sir Henry Meux the Second ran the brewery after the death of his father in 1841 until 1878 when Henry Bruce Meux and Lord Tweedmouth took over management and renamed the company Meux's Brewery Company Limited which was registered in 1888. In 1921 operations were transferred to the Nine Elms Brewery, Nine Elms Road, Wandsworth which was the premises of Thorne Bros Limited, acquired by Meux in 1914. The Nine Elms Brewery was renamed the Horseshoe Brewery and the old Horseshoe Brewery was closed. The company acquired Burge and Company Limited, Victoria Brewery, Victoria Street, Windsor, Berkshire in 1931 and Mellersh and Neale Limited, Reigate, Surrey in 1938. In 1956 Meux's Brewery merged with Friary, Holroyd and Healy's Breweries Limited, Guildford, Surrey, to form Friary Meux Limited. Meux's Brewery Company Limited went into liquidation in November 1961 and the Horseshoe Brewery ceased to brew in 1964.
James Farren and Joseph Till leased the Nine Elms Brewery, Nine Elms Lane, Vauxhall, London from 1833 to 1841 after which it was acquired by John Mills Thorne who was joined by his brother Benjamin Thorne in 1861. Thorne Bros Limited was registered as a limited liability company in 1897. Thorne Bros Limited took over a number of other breweries in London and Surrey and were themselves acquired by Meux's Brewery Company Limited, London in 1914. In 1921 Meux's Brewery transferred its operations to the Nine Elms Brewery which was renamed the Horseshoe Brewery. The brewery was closed in 1964.
Burge and Company Limited was founded at Victoria Brewery, Victoria Street, Windsor, Berkshire prior to 1840 when Burge and Burn began trading. Between 1866 and 1896 the company was managed by Alexander Shipley and then by Sir A W Shipley until is death in 1922. The company was registered as a limited liability company in 1920 and was acquired by Meux's Brewery Company Limited in 1931. The brewery site was sold in 1935 and the company went into liquidation in 1962.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records of Meux's Brewery Co, a subsidiary of Allied Breweries Ltd, and records of various companies acquired by Meux before it was acquired by Allied. The collection contains the records of the following companies:
Meux's Brewery Company Limited
Thorne Bros Limited
Burge and Company Limited
J and W Nicholson and Company Limited
John Lovibond and Sons Limited
Claude-General Neon Lights
Oldham Sign Service
Each company collection contains corporate records which can include minutes of meetings, memoranda and articles of association, registers of directors and members and corporate agreements. Meux's Brewery Company Limited has a large collection of premises records including early title deeds, mortgage agreements and schedules of properties. There are numerous items of interest including legal papers relating to a court case between Meux's Brewery and the Marquis of Aylesbury circa 1902 (LMA/4435/A/01/011) and a complete set of end of year accounts 1931-1984 for Claude-General Neon Lights (LMA/4435/F/009).
This collection contains records from several business types, breweries, gin distillers (J and W Nicholson and Company Limited), neon light manufacturers and sign makers illustrating the wide variety of functions carried out by Allied Breweries and it's companies.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
The arrangement of the collection has attempted to reflect the nature of the organisation, with parent companies before those which were taken over and subsidiary groups. However, given the complex nature of the Allied Breweries organisational structure there may be discrepancies.
Conditions governing access:
These records are open to public inspection, although records containing personal information may be subject to closure periods.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Gift: Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Received as a gift in 2002 (B02/091)
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
See also: LMA/4433 Allied Breweries: Ind Coope branch and LMA/4434 Allied Breweries: Victoria Wine Company Limited.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: July to October 2009