Barnsley Brewery Co Ltd v RBNB

[bigjim]

Does anyone know why Barnsley Brewery Co Ltd were in court against RBNB in 1997? (The year RBNB started trading). Something to do with 'passing off' but things can't have turned out well for Barnsley Brewery as I notice they were struck off and dissolved this year, 02/03/2010.

[neveragain]

Maybe I can help, The two companies where at loggerheads on who could use the name, Barnsley Bitter. Barnsley Brewery said they owned the trade mark Barnsley Bitter and RBNB said we operate and brew beer from the original brewery so there have the right to use the name Barnsley Bitter. The courts ruling was both could use the name as both parties brew the product in Barnsley.

Tbe judge ruled that Barnsley Brewery had to pay both parties legal costs, I dont think that Barnsley Brewery did pay the costs they instead decided to put the company in the hands of the receiver has they had done on more than one occasion.

Hope this helps

[bigjim]

Neveragain,

Thanks for that, it does indeed help explain. Not being a lawyer, I find the judgements difficult to follow and quite often payment is required to look at them anyway. It seems like it was a bit of a landmark case and therefore the costs were likely to have been considerable. As has been noted on here before, the ultimate owners of RBNB are very similar to SSOB in being willing and able to fund (and win) very expensive legal cases.

As an aside, just to confuse things even more, I notice that one of my favourite tipples when I venture out of Sam Smith's houses is indeed Barnsley Bitter, but brewed by another outfit called Acorn based at Wombwell!

[neveragain]

At one time there where 3 companies brewing Barnsley Bitter all at the same time, now there are only 2.

Barnsley Bitter was brewed at the Elesecar Brewery Barnsley. This company went into the hands of the receiver for a short while before starting up again in Blackpool. This time they where called the Blackpool Brewery and brewed a beer called Barnsley Bitter, my understanding is this brewery has now closed having gone bankcrupt.

Barnsley Bitter is now brewed by 2 companies, the Acorn Brewery which is located on some industrial estate somewhere in Barnsley I think they named the brewery Acorn to get at RBNB (Oakwell Brewery) who brew a lager called Acorn.

RBNB operate the original site which Barnsley Bitter was brewed from and of course still is, this is the Oakwell Brewery.

Beers brewed at Oakwell

Barnsley Bitter
Old Tom Mild
Acorn Lager
Oakwell Lager
Senior Bitter (just being sent out into the trade in selected pubs) This beer is named after one of the two brothers who started the Oakwell Brewery many years ago.

Hope this helps.

[DarkieBoy]

This is the Acorn Brewery website: http://www.acorn-brewery.co.uk.

Contact details:
Acorn Brewery Limited
Unit 3 Aldham Industrial Estate
Mitchell Road
Wombwell
Barnsley
S73 8HA

Tel: 01226 270734
Fax: 01226 340533

Google Street View: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=S73+8HA&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.583143,28.256836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Barnsley+S73+8HA,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.5325,-1.411834&spn=0.001543,0.005493&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=53.532442,-1.4117&panoid=i4fqSDVzhqHJtzlYOpc3Gg&cbp=12,11.51,,0,1.26

DB.

[DarkieBoy]

Barnsley Bitter is now brewed by 2 companies, the Acorn Brewery which is located on some industrial estate somewhere in Barnsley I think they named the brewery Acorn to get at RBNB (Oakwell Brewery) who brew a lager called Acorn.

This is a quote from Acorn Brewery's website:
Having worked for Barnsley Brewery as Head Brewer for two years, Dave decided to go it alone, purchased a ten barrel brewplant from the Forester & Firkin brewpub in Stafford and moved it to premises in Wombwell.

DB.