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02-10-2015, 08:20
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I am indeed continuing my Courage theme. Or rather, my theme of how the Courage group coalesced. And what better way to do that than with a table and a map?

Thicko that I am, I’ve only just realised that a map – or series of maps – is the best way to demonstrate how the group was assembled. I’d been fairly certain that all Simonds acquisitions were West of London and the map confirms this.

They were very active in buying other breweries, with 17 purchases between 1930 and 1954. With the exception of the war, they averaged almost one a year. In doing so, they amassed quite an estate of tied houses. In 1896 they owned 158 pubs, but by 1916 that was already up to 316. When they were absorbed into the Courage group in 1960, their estate stood at around 1,200 pubs. Or around one-fifth of the later Courage estate.

Looking at the map, something immediately struck me: a similarity with the map of the Great Western Railway I have hanging over my telly. Simonds expansion until 1950 mostly followed the Great Western mainline from Reading out towards Wales. While in the 1950’s it was in the extreme Southwest of England, in Devon and Cornwall, another branch of the GWR. Coincidence? I suspect not.

You can see why they made a very attractive takeover target for anyone wanting a presence in the West Country and South Wales. To Courage, very much centred on London and the Southeast, they offered an easy route to total coverage of the South. When John Smiths was added in 1970, pretty much all of England was covered.

Like J W Green, Simonds seem to have run out of breath in the mid-1950’s and just coasted along for a few years until themselves being gobbled up. What was the reason? Personal? Financial? Or both? I’ll need to dig a bit deeper.

These are the breweries Simonds took over in handy table form:



H & G Simonds acquisitions


year
brewery
address
tied houses
closed


1919
George Crake Tamar Bry
Plymouth
28
1975


1919
Mackeson & Co. Ltd.
Hythe

1929


1920
South Berks Brewery Ltd. West Mills Brewery and Atlas Brewery
Newbury
150/200
1920/1930


1930
Ashby’s Staines Bry Ltd
Staines
185
1931


1930
Wheelers Wycombe Brys Ltd
High Wycombe
148
1931


1931
Newbury Bry Co Ltd
Newbury




1935
W J Rogers Ltd
Bristol

1952


1938
Cirencester Bry Ltd
Cirencester
90
1937


1937
Lakeman’s Bry
Brixham
50
1950


1938
R H Stiles
Bridgend
27
1937


1939
J L Marsh & Sons Ltd
Blandford Forum
8



1945
R B Bowly & Co Ltd
Swindon
41
1945


1947
John May & Co Ltd
Basingstoke
90/100



1948
East Africa Brys
Nairobi, Kenya




1949
Phillips & Sons Ltd
Newport
125
1968


1951
R Grant & Sons
Torquay




1951
South Devon Brewery Ltd plus C W Blundell (Plymouth)

25
1948


1953
Pool & Son Ltd
Penzance

1953


1954
Octagon Bry Ltd
Plymouth
50
1970


Sources:


"The Brewing Industry a Guide to Historical Records” by Lesley Richmond and Alison Turton, 1990, page 298.


"A Century of British Breweries plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, pages 3, 5, 22, 24, 25, 34, 35, 39, 45, 46, 118, 131 and 158




And here’s the map:




Black: original brewery
Green: 1950

And, what the hell, here’s another table, too:



Simonds tied houses 1839 - 1916


year
tied houses


1839
37


1872
79


1896
158


1916
316


Sources:


"The Brewing Industry a Guide to Historical Records” by Lesley Richmond and Alison Turton, 1990, pages 297 - 298.




I’ve drawn up a map of the breweries John Smiths bought. That also tells a story.

More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2015/10/h-g-simonds-acquisitions.html)