H & G Simonds acquisitions

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)	Union Road, Kingsbridge	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: <= 1920
Red: 1930 – 1945
Blue: 1945 – 1949
Orange:  > 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.