Watney Combe & Reid was a leading brewery in London. At its peak in the 1930s it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. It produced Watney's Red Barrel.

History

The Watney family were the main partners in the Stag Brewery, Victoria, for much of the 19th century. In 1837 James Watney became a partner in the brewery, followed by his sons James and Norman in 1856. On his death in 1884, the brewery became a private limited company. In 1889 James Watney & Co., acquired the Mortlake Brewery (latterly referred to as the

Stag Brewery Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many centu ...

of Mortlake), which had been owned by Charles James Philips and James Wigan since the 1840s. In 1898 the company merged with

Combe Delafield and Co. Combe Delafield and Co. was among the major brewers in London during the nineteenth century, before being acquired by Watney in 1898, thus forming Watney Combe & Reid. The Woodyard Brewery, of Castle Street, Long Acre, situated midway between the ...

and Reid and Co., and was subsequently known as Watney Combe and Reid. The amalgamated company was the largest brewer in London. The Combe brewery in Longacre and the Reid brewery in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

closed almost immediately, and production was concentrated on the Watney Stag Brewery in

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

. The company had an annual output of 1.8 million hectolitres (some 39.5 million imperial gallons). Watneys Key Fob

Watney Mann was formed in 1958 with the merger of Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd. When the Stag Brewery in Victoria was demolished in 1959 the name was transferred to Mortlake Brewery. The business acquired other brewers, including Wilsons of Manchester, Phipps NBC of

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, Samuel Webster & Sons of Halifax and Ushers of Trowbridge, before being taken over by Grand Metropolitan, a hotels and catering group, in 1972 and closed in 1979.

Watney's Red Barrel

Watney's Red Barrel was a

bitter Bitter may refer to: Common uses * Resentment, negative emotion or attitude, similar to being jaded, cynical or otherwise negatively affected by experience * Bitter (taste), one of the five basic tastes Books * ''Bitter (novel)'', a 2022 novel ...

which sold highly in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could travel for long distances by being made stable through

filtering Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

and pasteurising, as such it was the first

keg beer Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dir ...

. It was renamed "Red" in 1971. A 3.9% abv pale lager called Watney's Red Barrel was sold by Sleeman Breweries until 1997 and a 6.0% beer with the same name is still brewed by Alken-Maes.

Advertising

For many years, Watney's advertised with the strapline "What we want is Watney's". The company sponsored the Watney Cup association football tournament from 1970 to 1973.

References

External links

Access to Archives: Files held at the London Metropolitan Archives on Watney Come Reid and Co Ltd and Watney Mann Ltd

Illustration of label of Combe Delafield & Co., Best London Porter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watney Combe and Reid 1898 establishments in England 1972 disestablishments in England 1972 mergers and acquisitions Breweries in London British companies established in 1884 British companies established in 1898 Companies based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Food and drink companies disestablished in 1972 Food and drink companies established in 1898 History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Watney family