Meux Reid & Co. began in 1775 when Richard Meux, in partnership with Mungo Murray, bought Jackson’s Brewery in London. Following a major fire in 1763, the partners built new premises in the fortuitously named Liquorpond Street, which is today Clerkenwell Road. Andrew Reid, a distiller and wine and spirit merchant, joined the company in 1793, which was renamed Meux Reid. In 1816 Thomas Meux resigned from the partnership, which became Reid & Co. It took over several smaller breweries in London and the surrounding counties, but in 1898 Reid merged with the large London brewer Watney at the Stag Brewery in Pimlico along with Combe and Co. of Long Acre. The merger created a leading force in London brewing, Watney, Combe, Reid. As a result, Reid’s site ceased to brew.

A member of the Meux family, Henry, built a new brewery, the Horseshoe, at the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. It became a major force in porter brewing in London and gained unfortunate notoriety in October 1814 when a wooden brewing vat 6.7 m (22 ft) high burst. The brewery was surrounded by streets of small houses, several of which were swept away by the deluge of beer. Eight people died as a result of drowning or intoxication.

Meux also brewed at Nine Elms in south London. In 1961 the company was sold to Friary, Holroyd and Healy’s Brewery of Guildford in Surrey. The company was renamed Friary Meux but only existed as an independent brewery until 1964, when it became part of the new national group, Allied Breweries. The old Meux Horseshoe Brewery is now the site of the Dominion Theatre.