| Description | Records of the company and its brewing and related businesses from the 1780s onwards. The archive includes records of other businesses acquired by Greenall Whitley, including Chester Northgate Brewery Co Ltd; Magee, Marshall and Co, Bolton, Lancashire; Groves and Whitnall Ltd, Salford; Devenish and Co Ltd, Weymouth; John Sumner and Co Ltd, Haigh, Greater Manchester |
| Administrative History | Thomas Greenall became manager of his mother-in-law's brewery in St Helens, Lancashire, in 1754, and went on to build his own in Hardshaw, St Helens, in 1762. In 1786 he bought the Saracen's Head Brewery at Wilderspool, Warrington, in partnership with William Orrett and Thomas Lyon. In 1787, the partners acquired an interest in the brewery of Edward Greenall and Co in Cunliff Street, Liverpool, which ceased trading in 1814. In 1807, Orrett's son sold his interest to Lyon and Greenall. On the death of Thomas Lyon, nephew of the original partner, in 1859, Greenall and Company was formed. The St Helens Brewery continued to trade as Thomas and Gilbert Greenall. In 1880 the assets of both breweries were transferred to Greenall Whitley and Company Ltd. It became a public company in 1952. In 1982 the company changed its name to Greenall Whitley Plc. Brewing operations ceased in 1989.
The company has acquired many other businesses. They include Gilbert and John Greenall, gin distillers and wine merchants in 1923; John Sumner and Co Ltd, brewers, Haigh, near Wigan, in 1931; Chester Northgate Brewery Co Ltd in 1949; Shrewsbury and Wem Brewery Co Ltd, Wem, Shropshire in 1951; David Williams and Co Ltd, Bangor, Caernarfonshire, in 1951; Cambrian Mineral water, Ruthin, Denbighshire in 1954; Magee, Marshall and Co Ltd, Bolton, Greater Manchester, in 1958; Groves and Whitnall and Co Ltd, Salford, Greater Manchester, in 1961; Allied Vintners Investments Ltd in 1971; and Stanneylands Group Ltd, leisure interests, Warrington in 1977 |