Bass acquires pubs owner Mitchells & Butlers

In 1961, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton joined with Midlands brewer and pub owner Mitchells & Butlers, creating Bass, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd and beginning a period of extensive consolidation for Bass across Britain's brewing and pub industry. IHG's corporate history describes the transaction as the first of several acquisitions during the 1960s involving well-known regional brewing and pub companies across the UK. Mitchells & Butlers itself had been created in 1898 through the merger of two Midlands brewing businesses, Henry Mitchell & Co. and William Butler's brewery. Its principal brewing operation was based at Cape Hill in Smethwick, near Birmingham. Over subsequent decades, Mitchells & Butlers expanded through acquisitions of breweries and their associated tied pub estates, building a substantial presence across the Midlands. The 1961 transaction is more precisely described by historical sources as a merger, rather than simply an acquisition of a pub owner. Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton and Mitchells & Butlers combined to form Bass, Mitchells & Butlers Ltd. The combination strengthened Bass's access to tied public houses, an important distribution channel in the British brewing industry because tied pubs generally sold beer supplied by their associated brewer. The newly combined company continued acquiring regional brewing businesses during the decade. In 1962, it acquired Sidney Fussell & Sons of Rode, Somerset, and in 1965 it acquired Hunt, Edmunds & Co. of Banbury, which had 187 public houses. In 1967, Bass, Mitchells & Butlers combined with Charrington United Breweries to form Bass Charrington, extending the consolidation that had begun earlier in the decade. This brewing and pub history later became connected with IHG's corporate lineage. Bass eventually diversified beyond brewing and pubs, entering the hotel sector and acquiring Holiday Inn International in 1988 and the remaining Holiday Inn business in 1990. Bass later became Six Continents, which was separated in 2003 into InterContinental Hotels Group and the independently listed Mitchells & Butlers pub business. Historical Significance The 1961 combination established Bass, Mitchells & Butlers and began a decade of further consolidation that substantially expanded Bass's pub and brewing interests. It also forms an early chapter in the corporate history that ultimately led, through later diversification and restructuring, to today's IHG Hotels & Resorts.