Courage Brewery
Courage was an English brewery, founded by John Courage in London, England, in 1787.
History
Origin and family ownership
The Courage Brewery was started by John Courage. He was a Scottish shipping agent believed to be of French Huguenot descent hailing from Aberdeen, although other sources suggest his family may have originated from Flanders, as there were no records of French Huguenot immigration to Aberdeen and there was a stronger tradition of brewing in that region.John Courage moved to London in or about 1780 to become an agent for the Glasgow shipping firm of Carron. His work was located at Glasgow Wharf. From his workplace, he could see the brewing operations in Southwark which encouraged him to diversify his interests into the brewing industry.
On 20 December 1787, John Courage, together with a group of friends purchased the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey, from John and Hagger Ellis for £615 13s.11d.
John Courage died suddenly at the age of 36 in 1797 and was buried at St. John's, Horsleydown. In 1786, he had married Harriot and the couple had four children, John, Ann, Elisabeth and Harriet On John's death, his wife took over the running of the business until her own death.
Since the four Courage children were still young, John Donaldson, the Managing Clerk, took over running the day-to-day business and care for the children. In 1800, John Donaldson was named a partner and the business was renamed Courage & Donaldson reflecting the effective partnership. Profits were initially split with Donaldson receiving a third, which was subsequently amended to half of profits and half of the capital of the business.
John Courage Junior joined the business in 1804 at the age of 14 and became a partner in the business in 1811. John the Second married Susan, the daughter of a Norfolk Brewer, Sidney Hawes of Coltishall in 1823. The Courages lived at De Crespigny Terrace, Camberwell and had ten children.
In 1836 John Donaldson retired from the business and his share was transferred to his son Thomas and his brother Robert joined in 1841. In 1851, the Donaldson family withdrew from management.
In 1852, John Courage Junior and his sons Robert and John then took over the business in partnership. On John Courage Junior's death, the sons carried on, and in 1856 a further partnership was formed when John and Robert admitted Edward into the partnership. Following John 's death, the partnership was reconstituted again, when Henry Courage was admitted. One final change to the partnership was made in 1882 with the admission of Robert's son, Robert Michell Courage.
Robert Courage acted as Chairman of the limited company between 1888 and 1894 followed on his death by Edward Courage who acted as Chairman from 1894 to 1904. Edward Courage resided for nearly all his life at Shenfield Place, Shenfield, Essex. Having entered the business in 1856, he became a partner in 1889.
Following the death of Edward Courage, he was followed as Chairman by his son, Old Etonian Raymond Courage, Lord of the Manor of Edgcote from 1926 until his death. Raymond Courage was the great-grandson of John Courage.
Raymond Courage was succeeded by his son, Richard Courage, as Chairman of the company throughout the 1950s to the 1970s.
Incorporation and expansion of the business (1888 – World War II)
With London's population growing from around 1 million in 1800 to around 6.9 million in 1900, demand for beer in the city grew exponentially throughout the century. By 1887, the annual production of Courage had reached 300,000 barrels. The growth in the size of the business probably led to Courage & Co. Limited becoming registered as a Limited Liability Company on 28 April 1888, and the company became simply known as "Courage". On 21 May 1889, Messrs, Prescott, Cave, Buxton, Loder & Co. Ltd. issued a prospectus for floating the company with a total capital of £1.5 million with £0.6 million of debenture stock. In 1897, a further £0.4 million of debenture stock was raised.As with many other brewers, the Company initially operated as a supplier of public houses rather than owning a significant estate of its own. The public houses were owned by the licensed victualler who would often raise capital from brewery companies in order to finance the purchase through the provision of a loan backed by a mortgage on the property. As a condition of the loan, Courage would stipulate interest rates, repayment rates and have an exclusive supply arrangement to provide its range of beers to the public house, securing the loan with a first mortgage on the property. The landlord would be free to then arrange loans and contracts with suppliers of Pale Ale and liquors who would provide further loans and take second and third charges on the property. The balance of the cost of the public house would be provided by the landlord's own capital. In 1890, the value of loans on Courage's balance sheet was £1,654,355 compared to the value of self-owned public houses of £221,602.
The late 1890s represented a boom time for the breweries. The availability of cheap money led to increased competition for the purchase of houses pushing up purchase prices. By 1897, the value of the company's loan book had grown to £2,202,879 and self-owned public houses to £786,071.
From the peak in 1897, the business underwent a transformation with a significant decline in loans and commensurate growth in Courage's direct ownership of the estate. In addition, a downturn in public house prices after a boom in the 1890s led to many landlords defaulting on their loans which reverted to the first mortgage holder or became available for purchase at lower prices. The purchase of public houses was made possible by the availability of cheap equity and debt finance to Courage based on security provided by the ownership of its own estate of public houses. By 1931, the company's business model had been completely reversed with the value of the loan book being £333,897 and self-owned public houses to £2,695,672.
A fire at the Anchor Brewhouse on 5 May 1891 destroyed the building which required the rebuilding and all brewing ceased for a month with beer being purchased from Barclay, Perkins & Co. to supply its public houses. The Anchor Brewhouse concentrated on production of mild ale and stout suited to the quality of water available from its wells. However, the water did not have the mineral ingredients needed for pale ale. Therefore, pale ale production was subcontracted to Flower & Sons Ltd and then Fremlins Ltd.
From the start of the 20th century, Courage went through a period of expansion through acquisition which saw Courage buy seven breweries and their associated licensed public houses. As with other brewers, these purchases focused on the expanding the number of tied public houses whilst nearly all of the acquired breweries were closed down within a couple of years of becoming part of the Courage group.
The acquisitions started with the purchase of the Alton Brewery Co., located in Turks Street, Alton, Hampshire, and its 77 tied houses in February 1903. The facility initially replaced the pale ale produced by Fremlins Ltd but expanded as further acquisitions were made and the estate of tied public houses grew.
Courage then made further acquisitions in London, Surrey, Kent and Berkshire expanding its geographical presence into surrounding areas that could easily be supplied by its two breweries in London and Alton.
The purchases included the Camden Brewery, consisting of freehold premises and 78 public houses in the North-West of London where the company had little presence and Courage Beers were virtually unknown. The Brewery was subsequently closed in 1926.
Farnham United Breweries was acquired in 1927. The brewery was situated close to Alton and had its own maltings and a holding of 196 licensed houses with an annual output of 45,000 barrels. As it could easily be supplied and managed from Alton the Farnham brewery itself was closed down. The Alton Brewery was extended to increase capacity to supply the acquired licensed houses. Courage raised further equity of £0.4 million to pay for the purchase
In March 1930, Courage acquired Noakes & Company in Bermondsey. The property consisted of the Brewery and 120 public houses around Bermondsey. and the Nevile Reid Brewery in Windsor, Berkshire with 140 public houses. Further in 1920, Noakes & Co. had purchased the Royal Brewery, Windsor of J. Canning & Son and 20 public houses. Courage raised further debt of £0.4 million to pay for the purchase.
In 1931, Courage's estate consisted of 886 public houses of which 462 were in London with 273 in Hampshire /Surrey and 140 in Windsor and Slough.
In 1921, the Licensing Act was passed. This prohibited the sale of beer and liquors for more than 9 hours a day in London and 8 1/2 hours elsewhere. This precipitated a drinking "rush hour" and existing public houses were considered too small to cope with the concentration of demand into a limited number of hours. Courage's utilized its in-house building department consisting of surveyors, draughts men and tradesmen to enlarge and reconfigure its existing public house estate. The Tudor style of house was taken as the template for rebuilding and the first significant structure to be redeveloped was the "Grove Tavern", Lordship Lane, Dulwich, famous for once being Lord Byron's residence. The Grove Tavern is now derelict having been destroyed in a fire in 2012. The pub is currently leased by Stonegate but owned by the Dulwich Estate. It is anticipated that the site will be demolished when the lease ends in September 2025.
Whilst building the Grove Tavern, Courage's also procured a sports ground on adjoining land, which included cricket and football grounds, hard and grass courts for tennis, and a bowling green. The company also provided transport from the brewery in Bermondsey to the ground. Given its location, this ground is likely to be that currently occupied by Streatham and Marlborough Cricket Club. Courage's provided similar sports facilities in Alton which were redeveloped into residential properties in 2015 and also in Reading from the early 1960s in Coley Park. The ground was closed in the 1980s. The old site of the ground includes a public park called "Courage Park" named to commemorate its former ownership.
Other redevelopments included the Railway Tavern, Station Approach, Catford ; the Beehive, Beehive Lane, Ilford and the Brockley Jack, Brockley Road, Brockley, London a former haunt of Dick Turpin. Redevelopment of public houses extended to the company's public houses in Hampshire/Surrey and Berkshire areas including The Swan Hotel in Alton, Hampshire, the Bush Hotel in Farnham, Surrey the Otter at Ottershaw, Surrey and the George at Wraysbury, Berkshire, all of which are still active public houses and Hotels.
During the pre-World War II era, the company provided its employees with a number of benefits and perks. As well as the company's sports clubs and activities, the company arranged a Contributory Superannuation Scheme for staff to secure future pensions dependent on the length of service and salary, and benefits to widows and family in case of the staff member's death. The company also started the Hospital Savings Association to help deal with medical costs. The care for the company's staff was farsighted. In 1926, in the General Strike, Courage reported that not a single man ceased work.