A message from breweriana collector Richard Percival
Hi there,
My name is Richard Percival. I am Britain’s leading collector of brewery trays and also collect any other pre World War Two brewery memorabilia.
My passion though is my collection of brewery trays. I have been collecting for over 40 years and have appeared on TV on numerous occasions, my favourite being ‘Antiques Road Trip’.
Like most the British nation I am currently at home and looking for things to occupy my time. In years gone by I was a prolific writer to newspapers all over the country. I was constantly trying to trace brewery trays missing from my collection. Sometimes I struck gold but mainly I hit a blank. With the virus now hitting hard I thought I’d take the opportunity to try again and see if any of your readers could help me locate any one of about 80 trays I still need in order to make my collection complete. Either that or replace trays that in poor condition.
The utopia would be to locate a tray from Thomas Salt & Co Ltd, brewers from Burton-on-Trent, who distributed their beers throughout the UK through the Victorian and Edwardian eras up until closure in 1927.
The above tray is the one I seek most due to the fact that I collect anything from this particular brewery including, ashtrays, matchstrikers, coasters, mirrors and adverts/showcards. However much more realistically I am looking for help in finding trays locally.
In particular I would love to find trays from ex local breweries both in Frome and Rode namely:
Lamb Brewery Ltd once on Christchurch Street in Frome. The company merged with Frome United Breweries Co Ltd in 1955 to form Frome & Lamb Ltd. A tray from the Lamb Brewery Ltd is pictured and one I would love to add to my collection.
Frome United Breweries Co Ltd Badcox Brewery which merged with the above Lamb Brewery Ltd. Frome & Lamb Ltd was acquired jointly by Stroud Brewery Ltd and Usher’s Wiltshire Brewery Ltd in 1957 with around 300 public houses.
Sidney Fussell & Sons Ltd Cross Keys Brewery once in Rode. The brewery was acquired by Bass, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd in 1962 and closed. Pictured is a poor example of a square tray produced by Reginald Corfield Ltd which again is missing from my collection along with a similar round tray.
I’m also looking for any brewery tray which has a ‘black back’ or trays with makers marks such as Hancock Corfield & Waller, B.A.T.Co Ltd, Causton or Wm Brownlie.
My passion for this subject has been captured on a website that took me three years to create. If interested please search www.brewerytrays.co.uk The site includes many articles, manufacturers history, videos and of course photos of all my trays.
If anyone can help then please email richard.percival@hotmail.co.uk or phone 07715369540
Any call would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers and thanks
Richard Percival
