Theakstons is a small brewing dynasty with its roots in the rural and farming communities of Masham, North Yorkshire, England. Robert Theakston took a lease on the town’s Black Bull Inn and brewhouse in 1827 and the family name has been synonymous with classic northern English ale ever since. His son Thomas took the business forward, building a new brewery in 1875 at the nearby—and appropriately named—Paradise Fields, where it remains. Theakstons, one of only a few British breweries to continue to employ coopers (a maker or repairer of casks and barrels), acquired the neighboring Lightfoot Brewery in 1919 and, less advisedly in 1974, the Carlisle State Management Brewery, which had been nationalized by Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George in 1914 to control excessive drinking by munitions workers.
Families being families meant that ownership battles and business turbulence threatened survival on several occasions, most notably in the 1980s following a merger with Matthew Brown of Blackburn, which in turn was swallowed up by Scottish & Newcastle.
Fortunately, families are also peculiarly resilient and although Paul Theakston has kept the well- respected Black Sheep Brewery, the Theakstons Brewery was returned to the other four Theakston brothers in 2003, who represent not only the fifth generation of Theakston brewers but also Yorkshire perseverance, clear vision, and tireless enterprise.