Ushers of Trowbridge
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| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1824 |
| Founder | 1824-1959: Usher family 1960-1971: Watney Mann 1972-1989: Grand Metropolitan 1990-2004: Independent |
| Defunct | 2004, purchased by Punch Taverns |
| Headquarters | Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England |
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Area served
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Southwest |
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Key people
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Thomas Usher |
| Products | Beer |
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Footnotes / references Ushers beers now brewed by Wychwood Brewery |
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Ushers of Trowbridge was a brewery in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, between 1824 and 2000.
In 1824, Thomas Usher and his wife Hannah acquired a small brewery in Back Street, Trowbridge, renaming it Usher's Wiltshire Brewery. In 1844, the couple's three sons joined the partnership, allowing the parents to retire in 1869. After this, the beers and brand developed a loyal following, facilitating a quick expansion of the company through the 19th century. In 1887, the partnership took over Fanshaw & Palmer of Donnington, Berkshire. This resulted in the registration in 1889 of Usher's Wiltshire Brewery Ltd to combine the two organisations. From its date of formation until World War II, the company acquired some 15 independent breweries and their associated public house premises.
Post World War II, the company acquired Conigre House and gardens in Trowbridge, then the home of the local Liberal Club, enabling it to double the scale of its brewery and bottling plant.
Having dropped the apostrophe from its registered name in 1951, in 1960 the company agreed to be merged with the acquisitive Watney Mann. The assets included the brewery sites in both London (soon closed) and Trowbridge, together with 900 pubs. In 1964, the company changed its registered name to Ushers Brewers Ltd. Watney Mann itself merged with Grand Metropolitan Hotels in 1972.
In 1990, a management buyout created a reconstituted Ushers Brewers Ltd, together with an estate of wholly owned smaller pubs, deemed by Grand Metropolitan to be too small or not capable of redevelopment. The new company began acquiring pubs to provide a distribution network, under a holding company called Innspired Pubs.
By 1999 the brewery side of the business was "not cost effective" despite running at full capacity. Subjected to an unsuccessful management buyout, the Trowbridge brewery site closed in 2000. The residual pub operator company, renamed Innspired Pubs plc, was itself was bought by Punch Taverns in September 2004.
The brewery equipment was sold for £1.5M to North Korea via German broker Uwe Oehms. It now forms the core of the Taedonggang brewery, located just outside Pyongyang. In 2009, its new brew "Taedong River Beer" made international headlines after featuring in what is thought to be North Korean television's first beer advert.
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Wikipedia