Peter Walker was the name of two men, both within the same family, who became involved in various companies in the United Kingdom brewing industry, including two called Peter Walker.
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The first Peter Walker was the owner and master brewer at the Fort Brewery in Ayr, Scotland. The family home was at Auchinflower, Ayrshire, where his three sons Andrew, John and Peter and were raised.
Walker founded the Peter Walker Brewery, and expanded the organisation south of the border to Warrington and Burton upon Trent through the assistance of investors.
As the business expanded, he handed daily running over to eldest son Andrew. This disappointed his other two sons, who decided to branch out on their own.
The original business was renamed Peter Walker & Son.[1][2] Andrew further expanded the business south, building new brewing facilities in both Warrington (Walkers of Warrington, founded in 1864), and Burton.
In 1879, on the death of his father, Andrew gained control of the buiness, and in 1890 converted the private company into the publicly listed Peter Walker & Son Warrington & Burton Ltd. The later Sir Andrew pioneered many of the innovations in brewing production, beer distribution and pub management that we take for granted today, including patenting the Burton Union System. The group had a chain of pubs in the Liverpool and the north west of England, many of which today still carry the slogan Walkers Warrington Ale in their frosted glass.[3]
After his death in 1893, with his son William now chairman, the company merged with Cains Brewery in 1921, and then Tetley's Brewery of Leeds in 1960, to form Tetley Walker. This company was one of the founding partners of Allied Breweries.
In 1860, youngest son Peter bought the Willow Brewery in Wrexham from Robert Evans. Later joined by his brother, the pair expanded their brewery and public house chain across to Burton, before expanding southwards. After the death of both brothers, the company was sold to Atkinsons.
Peter Walker was a member of a Scottish brewing family that settled in Liverpool. His brother founded the Walker Art Gallery. In 1860 Peter bought the small Willow Brewery in Willow Road, Wrexham, and developed it into the largest brewery in the town. He served as Mayor of Wrexham in 1866 and 1867 but after his disappointment at not being elected for a third term in 1881 he decided to move his business to Burton on Trent in Staffordshire. He laid the foundation stone for his new brewery in February 1882 but died just two months later. He left instructions for his executors to close the Willow Brewery. It closed in 1883 and the buildings were bought by Wrexham Council to house their main depot, workshops, stables, offices, electricity generator, public baths and laundry and assembly rooms. This depot was used until it was gutted by fire and demolished in the 1970s. All that remain now are the railings alongside the River Gwenfro. He is buried in the Ruthin Road cemetery, Wrexham. When he died he was the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Denbighshire and left a considerable estate of