The Plough Brewery

The Plough Brewery, later to become famous as John Mercer's, started as a small brewery in Adlington, that grew out the Plough Inn on Market Street. This made its history difficult to research, as for many years, the lives of both the brewery and the inn were entwined.

The inn was run by the Naylor family since the first half of the 1850s, when John Naylor is listed in a trade directory as a beer house keeper there. At this point the street was known as Bare Lane. By the 1861 census, it seems that John had retired, and his son Thomas Naylor had taken over.

The beginning of the Plough Brewery was when the Plough Inn started brewing its own beer. Certainly by 1871, Thomas Naylor was listed in a trade directory as both beer retailer and brewer.

In 1872, his first wife died, leaving him with four children, and in November of the same year, he remarried, going on to have two more children. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, Thomas Naylor acquired several inns including The Black Horse at Chorley Moor, The Queen's Tavern, The Alma Inn and The British Oak in Chorley and its relative neighbour, The Spinners Arms in Adlington, all of which would have sold his ales.

An old sign in the Royal Oak, Chorley, advertising that
they sold John Mercer ales & stouts. Photo taken 1986

At some point between 1879 and 1881, the pub and the brewery had split. Thomas Naylor is listed as a 'brewer employing 2 men'  at the Plough Brewery, and his daughter and son-in-law, Ellen and William Harrison, were running the inn part of the business.  The Naylors must have been fairly wealthy by this point, as daughter Nancy was still in education at 15, at a time when most children left at age ten.

Thomas' son Henry Naylor had a brief stint at running the brewery, likely due to his father's retirement. But in October 1890, indentures were drawn up for the purchase of the Plough Brewery, including all of the inns and pubs that it had purchased. The purchaser was John Mercer, a brewer from Blackburn.

Ordnance Survey map from 1908 showing the Inn and the Brewery in the centre

In the 1891 census, Thomas Naylor is still living there, and the brewery is still listed as "Naylor's Brewery - Ale and Porter". Preusmably the takeover would have happened within the year. By 1895, John Mercer is listed in a trade directory at the Plough Brewery.

The Mercer family continued living on Wellington Street in Blackburn. By 1901, John Mercer is listed as a "Brewer and bottler", and his eldest son Harold Irving Mercer is listed as "Brewer's Bookkeeper and traveller" 

John Mercer died in August 1906 in Blackpool. He left an estate worth valued at over £35,000, and gave his trustees power to carry on his brewery, or to convert it into a company. And convert it into a company they did. In December 1907, John Mercer Ltd was a registered as a limited liability company to acquire the business of John Mercer, operating the Plough Brewery, and John Mercer's eldest son, Harold Irving Mercer became Managing Director. He was on a maximum salary of £300 a year, £200 of which was guaranteed and commission of 8d per barrel up to the amount of £100. 

A Mercer's Meat Stout label

Mercer's had great success with "Mercer's Meat Stout", which was literally stout brewed with the addition of meat extract. It was promoted as good for weak digestion. 

Regarding its origins, according to Colin Pritt, a Blackburn historian: “It is rumoured that the natives complained about the gravity or quality of the stout, so the brewer threw a side of beef, or similar, into his next brew and it gave it more ‘body’. They then added some meat product to the brew ever after (probably offal, as it was cheap).”

The company acquired E & J Crabtree Ltd, Victoria Brewery, Clitheroe, Lancashire, and 45 tied houses in 1920. It was then bought out by Dutton's Blackburn Brewery Ltd, Blackburn in March 1929 and the business moved to the Salford Brewery, Blackburn. The Plough Brewery continued brewing until 1936.