Fletcher, Travis & Co. Ltd,

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Fletcher, Travis & Co. Ltd, Edge Lane Brewery, Royton, Greater Manchester.

Bought by the Oldham Brewery Co. Ltd. 1895 and the brewery was sold to the above concern and registered in October 1897.

Receiver appointed on 3rd November 1915 and was wound up on 1st May 1916.

In 1921 Harry Beswick was listed in Edge Lane.

Premises later occupied by the Edge Lane Brewery & Bottling Co. of Jones Street until c.1939.


Fletcher, Travis & Co. Ltd, Edge Lane Brewery, Jones Street, Royton by Rob Magee

The Edge Lane brewery was built in 1884 by Mr Haworth Ratcliffe of 'Thornbank, Royton, who at the time was a partner in the J & H Ratcliffe Brewery of Coldhurst, Oldham. A few years later Haworth was dead and in 1889 the Manchester Brewery Company of Ardwick purchased the Coldhurst Brewery together with its tied estate of pubs and beerhouses in the Oldham area. Soon afterwards, widow Ratcliffe sold the Edge Lane Brewery to Herbert Fletcher and John Travis and they began to build up their own estate.

By 1895 they owned five Oldham pubs - the Bowling Green, Park Inn, Primrose View, Three Crowns (Huddersfield Road) and the Willow Bank. They also owned a number of off-licences in Royton and leased two others in Oldham (74 Horsedge Street and 139 Honeywell Lane). Unfortunately Fletcher & Travis overstretched themselves and so they were glad to accept a take-over by the Oldham Brewery in 1895.

The Oldham Brewery were only after the tied houses and in mid-1897 the Edge Lane Brewery was back in the hands of Messrs Fletcher and Travis. A new company was formed, Fletcher, Travis & Co. Ltd, and they began buying or leasing outlets again. One of the purchases was the Church Inn, Royton, where the company spent some money on major alterations. In 1905 they signed a 77-year lease on the Bridge Inn, High Street, Uppermill. I imagine it took more than one dray horse to take deliveries up there!

Unfortunately the brewery encountered more financial difficulties and in November 1915 the receivers were brought in. The company was wound up on 1st May 1916 and most of the estate went to the Oldham Brewery, including the Church Inn, Royton. The Bridge Inn at Uppermill had already been closed for four years under the Compensation Act. The brewery was bought by Messrs H & A Beswick, who went into business as the Edge Lane Brewery & Bottling Co. They brewed ales and stout and for deliveries used the handsome motor lorry pictured here. It was a wholesale concern, which meant that customers had to purchase a minimum order of six dozen bottles of beer.

In 1926 sales may have been a bit low, because at that year's Brewster Sessions Henry Beswick applied for an off-sales licence. His solicitor told the court that not everybody wanted to buy a minimum of six dozen bottles at a time; one dozen would be a more suitable amount. The opposition pointed out that if he got the licence, he could start peddling his beer from door-to- door, in direct competition with off-licence shops, beerhouses and public houses, and the licensees were all against the idea most emphatically. The application was refused and so the company bottled on until the brewery closed about 1939.