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Simonds Brewery
H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewing company founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960 and dropped the Simonds name after ten years. Eventually the firm became part of Scottish & Newcastle who sold the brands to Wells & Young's Brewery in 2007 and closed the Reading brewery three years later. History The Simonds brewery was founded in Broad Street in Reading by William Blackall Simonds in 1785, although his father had a brewing arm of his malting business as early as 1760. In 1790 the company moved to Bridge Street, where it remained until 1978. The new brewery complex was designed by architect Sir John Soane and possessed an early Boulton & Watt steam engine. Over time the brewery expanded, coming to occupy large quantities of land alongside the River Kennet on both sides of Bridge Street. The site is now occupied by The Oracle shopping centre. Simonds developed rapidly, but expansion was he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Blackall Simonds
William Blackall Simonds (1761–1834) was a brewer and banker in the English town of Reading. He founded both H & G Simonds Brewery, which merged with other breweries to form Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co in 1960, and J & C Simonds Bank, one of the precursors to Barclays bank. Simonds came from a family with estates at Arborfield to the south-east of Reading, but his father, William Simonds senior, had moved to Reading to set up a malting business that later grew to include brewing. William senior married Mary Blackall, and William Blackall Simonds was their only son. He was probably born in Reading, with records showing that he was baptised at the Broad Street Independent Chapel in Reading on 13 August 1761. When William senior died in 1782, William Blackall Simonds inherited his business. He married Elizabeth May, who was the heiress of Daniel May, the miller of Pangbourne, and the ward of Thomas May, the miller of Brimpton and founder of a brewery in Basingstoke. In 1789 Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
