Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. - Park Brewery, Wolverhampton, History, Details, Photographs

This company is based at the Park Brewery, the home of Banks's Brewery. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. was formed as a public company in 1890 from an amalgamation of three local brewing businesses - Banks's of Park Brewery, George Thompson and Sons of Dudley and Charles Colonel Smith of the Fox Brewery in Wolverhampton. The company grew to become one of the largest independent regional brewers. Floated on the stock exchange in 1964, by 1990 W&DB controlled 800 tied houses. Other breweries were acquired, notably Mansfield and Cameron's. The prized purchase was that of Marston, Thompson and Evershed of Burton-on-Trent, acquired in February 1999 with an estate of 918 pubs. However, in 2001 the whole group was thrown into confusion when Pubmaster made a £453m hostile bid to takeover the company. Shareholders had to vote on this and the brewery only just about held on to its position. It was still bad news for some when rationalisation was forced - the Mansfield Brewery was closed and production was shifted to Wolverhampton in 2001. Cameron's was sold to Castle Eden in April 2002. In 2005 the company acquired Jennings Brewery and two years later they also acquired the Ringwood Brewery. In 2007 the company changed to Marston's plc. © Copyright. Images supplied by Digital Photographic Images.		If you have a genealogy story or query regarding this brewery you can contact me and I will post it here in addition to including your message within the website pages for Staffordshire Genealogy. “Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.” David Rains Wallace

This company is based at the Park Brewery, the home of Banks's Brewery. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd. was formed as a public company in 1890 from an amalgamation of three local brewing businesses - Banks's of Park Brewery, George Thompson and Sons of Dudley and Charles Colonel Smith of the Fox Brewery in Wolverhampton.

The company grew to become one of the largest independent regional brewers. Floated on the stock exchange in 1964, by 1990 W&DB controlled 800 tied houses. Other breweries were acquired, notably Mansfield and Cameron's. The prized purchase was that of Marston, Thompson and Evershed of Burton-on-Trent, acquired in February 1999 with an estate of 918 pubs.

However, in 2001 the whole group was thrown into confusion when Pubmaster made a £453m hostile bid to takeover the company. Shareholders had to vote on this and the brewery only just about held on to its position. It was still bad news for some when rationalisation was forced - the Mansfield Brewery was closed and production was shifted to Wolverhampton in 2001. Cameron's was sold to Castle Eden in April 2002. In 2005 the company acquired Jennings Brewery and two years later they also acquired the Ringwood Brewery.

In 2007 the company changed to Marston's plc.
© Copyright. Images supplied by Digital Photographic Images.

If you have a genealogy story or query regarding this brewery you can contact me and I will post it here in addition to including your message within the website pages for Staffordshire Genealogy.

David Rains Wallace by Betsy Kendall
“Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.”
David Rains Wallace