The Brewery

Every Allsopp seems to have a story about a ‘lost’ connection to ‘a brewery’. Quite a bit of information has been collected from various sources on the brewers Samuel Allsopp and Sons, much of which has been kindly provided by Wanda Allsop who is located in the USA. Here we try to present an overview of the Allsopp brewing operations and the family structure behind it.

Samuel Allsopp & Sons – Brewers,

Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England

The history of brewers Samuel Allsopp & Sons begins with a Burton Brewhouse, the Blue Stoops Inn owned by Benjamin Willson, which grew to become the original brewery in c.1740. Benjamin had two children, a daughter Annie and a son Benjamin, who later took control of the brewery from his father.

Annie married James Allsopp and their son Samuel was taken on as a partner in the brewery by Benjamin Wilson (Jnr) in 1800. Seven years later, due to a downturn in trade because of the Napoleonic wars, Wilson sold his share of the brewery to Samuel for 7000 Pounds and together with his brother Thomas, they founded the brewery Samuel Allsopp & Sons Ltd. 

By 1876 Samuel Allsopp & Sons had expanded to become the second largest brewer in England, brewing over 260 million pints per year. However by 1900 the future of the brewery had become very shaky. In 1934 a merger between Ind Coope Ltd and Samuel Allsopp & Sons saw the birth of Ind Coope and Allsopp Ltd. 1959 saw the Allsopp name being dropped from the brewers name when the London firm of Taylor Walker and Co Ltd joined the company to become Allied Breweries in 1961.

After some 60 years in the wilderness, Jamie Allsopp, 5x great grandson of Samuel relaunched Samuel Allsopp & Sons Ltd in 2021 and Allsopp’s India Pale Ale is once again available.