{{Short description|London brewery business}} {{Use British English|date=September 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox company | name = Watney Combe & Reid | logo = Watneyslogo.JPG | fate = Acquired | predecessor = The Stag Brewery | successor = Watney Mann | foundation = 1837 | defunct = 1979 | location = London, United Kingdom | industry = Brewing | key_people = | products = Beer | num_employees = | parent = | subsid = }}
'''Watney Combe & Reid''' was a leading brewery in London. At its peak in the 1930s it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. It produced Watney's Red Barrel.<ref name="NYTdougherty">{{cite news|title=Biederman Is Named For Watney Red Barrel|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/23/business/advertising-biederman-is-named-for-watney-red-barrel.html|last=Dougherty|first=Philip H|date=23 October 1986|access-date= 17 December 2018|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
==History== thumb|A brewer adding hops to a cask during World War I thumb|''Watney's Red Barrel'' logo [[File:Watney Combe Reid - the Stag Brewery, Mortlake 1989 - geograph.org.uk - 346844.jpg|thumb|The Stag Brewery, Mortlake in 1989]]
The Watney family were the main partners in the Stag Brewery, Victoria, for much of the 19th century.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22171|title=Industries: Brewing|work=british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> In 1837 James Watney became a partner in the brewery, followed by his sons James and Norman in 1856.<ref name="history"/> On his death in 1884, the brewery became a private limited company.<ref name="history"/>
In 1889 James Watney & Co., acquired the Mortlake Brewery (latterly referred to as the Stag Brewery of Mortlake), which had been owned by Charles James Philips and James Wigan since the 1840s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=094-789&cid=-1#-1|title=Watney Combe Reid & Co Ltd records|publisher=The National Archives (United Kingdom)|access-date= 12 March 2019}}</ref>
In 1898 the company merged with Combe Delafield and Co. and Reid and Co., and was subsequently known as Watney Combe and Reid.<ref name="Cottrell2013">{{cite book|author=P.L. Cottrell|title=Industrial Finance, 1830–1914: The Finance and Organization of English Manufacturing Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hR78AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA170|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-59735-0|page=170}}</ref> The amalgamated company was the largest brewer in London.<ref name="Cottrell2013"/> The Combe brewery in Longacre and the Reid brewery in Clerkenwell closed almost immediately, and production was concentrated on the Watney Stag Brewery in Pimlico.<ref name="bp">{{cite web|url=http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/combe-beers.html|date=16 August 2008|access-date=28 February 2014|title=Shut up about Barclay Perkins<!-- |chapter=Combe Beers -->|work=blogspot.co.uk}}</ref> The company had an annual output of {{convert|1.8|e6hl|e6usbeerbbl e6impgal|abbr=unit}}.<ref name="bp"/>
Watney Mann was formed in 1958 with the merger of Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd with Mann, Crossman & Paulin Ltd.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/6187fd3a-dd74-4e92-9267-894f74398467|title=Watney, Combe, Reid & Co. Ltd and Watney Mann Ltd|publisher=National Archives|access-date=20 August 2020}}</ref>
When the Stag Brewery in Victoria was demolished in 1959 the name was transferred to Mortlake Brewery.<ref>''The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records'', 1990, Richmond L. and Turton A. (eds.), p.263</ref>
The business acquired other brewers, including Wilsons of Manchester, Phipps NBC of Northampton, Samuel Webster & Sons of Halifax and Ushers of Trowbridge, before being taken over by Grand Metropolitan, a hotels and catering group, in 1972 and closed in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quaffale.org.uk/php/brewery/754|title=Watney Mann Ltd|work=quaffale.org.uk}}</ref>
==Watney's Red Barrel {{anchor|redbarrel}}== Watney's Red Barrel was a bitter which sold highly in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="RetroWow">{{cite web|url=http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/keg_bitter/watneys_red_barrel.html|title=Watneys Red Barrel|publisher=RetroWow|access-date=25 June 2008}}</ref> It was introduced in 1931 as an export keg beer that could travel for long distances by being made stable through filtering and pasteurising, as such it was the first keg beer.<ref name="RetroWow" /> It was reformulated and relaunched as "Watney's Red" in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://boakandbailey.com/2014/11/brewing-watneys-red-not-red-barrel-1971/|title=Brewing Watney's Red (not Red Barrel), 1971|date=4 November 2014 |publisher=Boak and Bailey|access-date=7 January 2019}}</ref>
A 3.9% abv pale lager called Watney's Red Barrel was sold by Sleeman Breweries until 1997<ref>{{cite web|url= http://ratebeer.com/beer/watneys-red-barrel/4163/|title=Watneys Red Barrel from Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo) – Ratebeer| publisher=ratebeer.com|access-date=13 July 2009}}</ref> and a 6.0% beer with the same name is still brewed by Alken-Maes.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/belgian_beers.shtml|title=List of Belgian beers |website= Eupedia|access-date=27 May 2019}}</ref>
In 1964, Watney's Red Barrel was served at the British Pavilion at the World's Fair in New York. The exhibit featured a Pub called "the British Lion".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gillman |first=Gary |date=21 October 2017 |title=The British (Beer) Invasion |url=https://www.beeretseq.com/the-british-beer-invasion/ |access-date=8 May 2025 |website=beeretseq.com}}</ref> Following its exhibit, Watney's Red Barrel was available in the United States in bottle and draft form. Red Barrel was considered as a premium ale and was priced the same as Fuller's London Pride and Charles Wells's Bombardier Ale, both of which are still being produced.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gillman |first=Gary |date=24 January 2019 |title=Watney.s Red Barrel : Star In America |url=https://www.beeretseq.com/watneys-red-barrel-star-in-america/ |access-date=8 May 2025 |website=beeretseq.com}}</ref>
Watney's Red Barrel was referenced five times in the Monty Python's Travel Agents Sketch which first aired on the BBC on 16 November 1972. The sketch featured Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Carol Cleveland. Eric Idle played a customer looking to book a holiday, Michael Palin the Travel Agent and Carol Cleveland the Receptionist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz2LaJOVAiA|title=Monty Python – Travel Agent Sketch|publisher=BBC|access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref>
==Advertising== For many years, Watney's advertised with the strapline "What we want is Watney's".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adslogans.co.uk/site/pages/gallery/what-we-want-is-watneys.8463.php|title=Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame|work=AdSlogans.co.uk|access-date=28 February 2014|archive-date=11 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211213001/http://www.adslogans.co.uk/site/pages/gallery/what-we-want-is-watneys.8463.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The company sponsored the Watney Cup association football tournament from 1970 to 1973.<ref>{{cite book|title=World Soccer The Dictionary Of Football|publisher=Boxtree Ltd|date= 1999|pages=635|isbn=0-7522-2434-4|last1=Ballard|first1=John|last2=Suff|first2=Paul}}</ref> {{Clear}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=074-acc2979&cid=0#0 Access to Archives: Files held at the London Metropolitan Archives on Watney Come Reid and Co Ltd and Watney Mann Ltd] *[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/search_results.php?keywords=Combe+Delafield+&Lang=1 Illustration of label of Combe Delafield & Co., Best London Porter]
{{LB Richmond upon Thames}} {{FT 30 constituents}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watney Combe and Reid}} Category:1898 establishments in England Category:1972 disestablishments in England Category:1972 mergers and acquisitions Category:Breweries in London Category:British companies established in 1884 Category:British companies established in 1898 Category:Companies based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:Defunct breweries of the United Kingdom Category:Food and drink companies disestablished in 1972 Category:Food and drink companies established in 1898 Category:History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames +
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