Courage & Co. Ltd

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Reading Festival Ale
Courage Glass Sign. Photo: Jorgen Langkilde Larsen, Aarhus, Denmark

Courage & Co. Ltd, Anchor Brewery, Horselydown, Bermondsey, Southwark, London SE1

Acquired by John Courage in 1787. Registered in April 1888.

Acquired the Alton Brewery Co in February 1903 with 77 tied houses. Courage required the brewery for the production of pale ale.

Merged with Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd in 1955 to form Courage & Barclay Ltd. with about 1,250 houses.

Merged with H & G Simonds Ltd in 1960 to form Courage, Barclay & Simonds Ltd. The Bridge Street brewery (Reading) was demolished in 1983.

In 1961, they acquired Bristol Brewery Georges & Co. Ltd with 1,459 tied houses. The Bristol brewery was closed in 1999.

They acquired Plymouth Breweries Ltd in December 1970 but closed this brewery in 1983.

The Horselydown brewery was known as Courage (Eastern) Ltd from October 1970. The Anchor Brewery closed in 1981 and brewing was transferred to Bristol and Reading.

Acquired by the Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd. August 1972. The Imperial Group was acquired by the Hanson Trust in 1986 who sold Courage as a separate concern to Elders IXL. Courage took over all of the Grand Metropolitan breweries in exchange for the Courage public houses which were run by a jointly owned company, Inntrepreneur Estates. Courage were sold to Scottish & Newcastle to become Scottish Courage.

Brewhouse now riverside residential apartments.


List of Courage & Co Ltd pubs


The brewery features in The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland by Alfred Barnard published 1890.


An assortment of images of the brewery

An assortment of images of the brewery

The brewery in 2010. Courtesy Steve Peck.