Theakston Brewery
T&R Theakston is a brewery in the market town of Masham, North Yorkshire, England. The company is the sixteenth largest brewer in the UK by market share, and the second largest brewer under family ownership after Shepherd Neame. Its best known beer is Old Peculier. The brewery is also one of the last remaining in the UK to have an in-house cooperage. History T&R Theakston Ltd. was founded in 1827 by Robert Theakston and John Wood at the Black Bull pub and brewhouse in College Lane, Masham. By 1832, Theakston had sole ownership of the brewery and in 1875 he passed control over to his sons Thomas and Robert. Thomas and Robert Theakston formed the T&R Theakston partnership and constructed a new brewery on the Paradise Fields, a stone's throw away from the original site. In 1919, the company acquired the Lightfoot Brewery, also in Masham, now used as the company's flagship hotel, The White Bear. Through successive generations the business became the established brewer in North Yorkshire being well placed to take advantage of the consumer boom in interest in cask ale in the 1960s. Demand for Theakston beers grew rapidly, putting capacity pressure on the Masham brewery, a