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History
James Parker Simpson, (pictured above) was a corn merchant,
and founded J.P.Simpson & Co.(Alnwick) Ltd., later to be
known as Simpsons Malt, in Alnwick, Northumberland in 1866.
In
1872, he purchased some land by auction in Green Batt, Alnwick
to build his first maltings. In 1884, he built a maltings adjacent
to the new Alnwick railway station and by the time of his death
in 1897 he had a total of seven malting plants, stretching from
Darlington to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The founder’s son, Richard
Hurst Simpson, constructed a large maltings at Tweedmouth in
1901 close to the Scottish Border. Between then and the onset
of the second world war, the company expanded to own a total
of seventeen floor maltings, all located in the North of England.
R.H.Simpson
died in 1942, and for the next twenty years the company was run
by his sons, James F. Simpson, and Richard L.Simpson. Construction
of the Tweed Valley Maltings (based on the Saladin Box principle)
in Berwick-upon-Tweed commenced in 1960, and in 1962 Richard
Simpson’s son, Simon, became Managing Director.
He subsequently became Chairman of the company on the death of
his uncle, James Simpson. Simon is only the fourth Chairman of
the company in more than 100 years. A period of rationalisation
followed, with many of the smaller plants being closed, and the
remaining plants being made more productive, following a similar
trend in the British brewing industry
The mid ‘80s saw a rapid increase in Group malt output
with the acquisition of the malting plants owned by Watney, Mann & Truman
Brewers. This company was in turn owned by Grand Metropolitan
Brewing who wanted to concentrate on their core activity of brewing.
This enabled Simpsons to offer malt from malting plants that
stretched between Berwick in the north, to Abingdon in the south
of the country.
A further acquisition was made in 2001 of the
Mistley, Essex malting plant owned by Carlsberg-Tetley. By the
beginning of 2004 Simpson’s malt output was produced at
three modern plants, all being audited at regular intervals to
satisfy stringent criteria laid down by their customers and the
exacting requirements of ISO auditors.
Click here to view the timeline
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