A brief history...
_
The most interesting period was the relaunch in 1865 into the Bedford Brewing and Maltings Company. With that came the appointment of William Shaw as general manager and head brewer. During the next 15 years his personal stature and that of the brewery, rose significantly.
He bought out the various shareholders in this period, and became a director in 1880, then chairman. He introduced his son George to become head brewer in 1883. George was left his father's brewery in 1889, and set about consolidating the brewery during the next decade.
By 1902, with plans in place, he announced intentions to change the name of the brewery to George Shaw Company Limited, and also to create a new larger brewery in Leigh. This took five years to complete from 1906-11, and gave rise for great expansion plans. Alas the First World War intervened with expansion having to be curtailed.
Following the war, the company had lost George Shaw, to be replaced by his two sons. William Shaw junior was the chairman, and the expansion plans came to the fore again. Shaw's acquired two breweries in Bolton in the late 1920's, but the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street crash had a profound effect on the ambitions of the brewery. George Shaw found themselves in financial trouble with the banks, due to unprecedented borrowing by the chairman to fund his lifestyle in London.
Eventually, the decision was taken to offer the brewery to Walkers of Warrington, and the sale was completed on the 31 December 1930.
As for the future, Walkers asked the general manager of Shaw's to stay on and oversee the transition to the new owners. Mr Higenbottom stayed another 19 years, until retiring in 1949, to be succeeded by his son, William Higenbottom junior.
Walkers had a light touch on the business activities of George Shaw's, they carried on brewing in Leigh until September 1932, when brewing was transferred to Warrington.
However, Walkers continued to brew up to six of the George Shaw brews well into the 1960's. It is our intention to deliver these brews back to the marketplace in the next few years.
The ambition is to return the brewery back into Leigh, create employment and have the brewery run as a cooperative for the people of Leigh.
Keep up to date with news and new products