A bitter-sweet family affair
Theakston’s has gone from hero to zero and back again. Will the real Theakston’s please stand up? Nigel Huddlestone reports
When four Theakston brothers got together in 2003 to buy back the brewery with the family name from the mighty Scottish & Newcastle, it completed one of the biggest turnarounds in British brewing history.
Twenty years earlier, an acrimonious family rift had set off a chain of events which ended up with Scottish & Newcastle taking control of the brewery, revered by real enthusiasts and probably the thing the small rural town of Masham in North Yorkshire is most famous for.
Like any great drinking stories, this one starts when a man walks into a pub.
Back in the 1820s, Robert Theakston was a farmer at a hamlet called Wathermarske, about a mile and a half from Masham.
Looking to expand his horizons, he took on the lease of the Black Bull Inn in the centre of Masham. As was common at the time, owning the local inn meant brewing the beer as well. Theakston had a fastidious approach to beer quality, and word of his brewing skills began to spread.
He acquired more pubs and began selling to other inns in the area too. By 1840 he was in a position to move brewing out of the Black Bull and into a purpose-built out-building at the rear.
Though both the pub and the first Theakston’s brewery have long-since closed, the buildings are still there, now converted to apartments.
By the time the first brewer celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1870, Theakston’s brewing reputation had blossomed so much that it could no longer adequately satisfy demand. The need for bigger premises became c.....
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By Nigel Huddleston
Section : Beer Issues
Page number : 30
