A larger group at the farewell luncheon at Bridge End Brewery. A previously unpublished image.

From a feature by Allan Halstead:
To witness landmarks in local history being set up is a rare event, but Burnley's Mr Joseph Summersgill had that experience the other day when he was among those honoured by "special mention" at the farewell luncheon to mark the closure of Masseys (Burnley) Brewery Ltd - as from October 11th 1974. Joe (as he is known), at the age of 74 can span the gap between the day when 10 breweries operated in and around Burnley and today, when all the local vats are stilled. Young Joe got an office boy's job at Grimshaw's Brewery (where the Keirby now stands) and his own enterprise took him up the ladder of promotion. By the time he retired he had been company secretary of Massey's for a quarter of a century.

He has heard about men who worked at Grant's Brewery which was absorbed (about 1890) by Kenyon's of Cloughfold, near Waterfoot, who also took over Hartley and Bell (Barrowford) before themselves being taken over about 1929 by Masseys. Other neighbouring breweries included William Astley Ltd at Nelson (sold to Masseys) and a small brewery, Chadwick - Horsfalls, in Brierfield, whose fate I haven't traced. On our doorsteps were Platt's Brewery (in Stanley Street) and the Clubs' Brewery in Bridge Street, which also housed the old Fernandes Brewery (taken over by Grimshaw's in 1918). Fernandes were bought out by Massey's in 1927 when Joe "went over with the outfit." Joe remembered ram-tam milk stout and the King's Ale, produced in 1911 to commemorate a royal visit to this area and the days when Massey's had three pubs in Blackpool to which Burnley holiday drinkers used to flock for their familiar beer.