Welcome to our website, set up to encourage further research, archiving and accessibility to the history of the H&G Simonds Ltd Brewery of Reading, its business at home and abroad, its estate, beers, memorabilia and of all the people associated with them throughout the nearly 200 years of its existence.
I have also included a little about the ‘J&C Simonds Bank’ that was founded in Reading by Charles Simonds and others in 1791 and was sold to Barclays in 1913.
This is and will remain my hobby and as such will also remain very much ‘work in progress’ with consequential inconsistencies and maybe even errors! So – if you have any constructive comments, relevant historical information, images or documents to share, it would be great to hear from you through the ‘Contact’ button att he bottom of each page.
Our family suffered many casualties of various wars, but on this special day I would like to honour 2 sets of brothers. Click on their names to see their stories:
My mother’s 2 brothers, Raymond Stevens & Edwin Stevens:. There is a video memorial HERE:
My father’s 2 cousins, twin brothers Gavin & John Simonds: Just before he died, John wrote an extraordinary letter to his stepson HERE: later published by his wife Barbara.
The brewery magazine for staff & customers provides a unique source of over 10,000 pages of social history & images from the period. Now online and fully searchable too! CLICK HERE
This beautiful manuscript ‘Family Tree’ was produced in 1926 by the Royal College of Heralds! HERE:
Chris Gould sent me this lovely image! We did extensive repairs to the image and he used a microscope to decipher the words ‘Southern Railway’ on the sign. So we now know it is a delivery to the Bonded stores at Reading Station. Thanks to the ‘sleuths’ out there!
