Our recent blog post about the revival of Magee & Marshall came to the attention of the reviver himself, Edd Mather, who got in touch with a bit more info.
The following is a straight transcript of a phone conversation with Edd, a native Lancastrian.
First, can you say a bit about yourself? What’s your background?
I’m 40-years-old. I’ve always been interested in beer – how it’s kept, how it’s brewed – and I was fortunate a few years ago to find a bit of unpaid work, if you know what I mean, with a local brewery, and out of that I developed a bit of knowledge.
I’ve also always had an interest in history – brewing history and local history in general.
I heard on the grapevine that the company that owned the rights to Magee & Marshall were going into liquidation. From 1853 to 1958 it was in family ownership, then from 1958 to 1970 it was owned and operated by Greenall’s group. The brewery shut down in 1970 but the brand and company was owned by Greenalls PLC up until 1999 when it became De Vere Group, and later Ereved Group Holdings. I did a bit of digging and found that the Magee & Marshall company was still active. I thought, right, if I can get it for the right price, I will, and took ownership in March this year.