Theakston Brewery
T&R Theakston is an English brewery located in the market town of Masham, North Yorkshire. The company is the sixteenth largest brewer in the UK by market share, and the second largest brewer under family ownership after Shepherd Neame.
History
T&R Theakston Ltd. was founded in 1827 by Robert Theakston and John Wood at The Black Bull pub and brewhouse in Masham. By 1832 Theakston had sole ownership of the brewery and in 1875 he passed control over to his son Thomas who expanded the range of buildings by building the new brewery on the Paradise Fields.
In 1919 the company acquired and closed down the Lightfoot Brewery, also in Masham.
Theakston's expanded into Cumbria in 1974 buying the Carlisle State Management Brewery. The brewery had been owned and operated by the government since 1916. However the site was a financial drain on Theakston's and led to the company being taken over in 1984 by Blackburn based brewer, Matthew Brown plc. Matthew Brown was itself taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in 1987.