Brewer, Burton-upon-Trent, 1777-c1965

Established by William Bass in 1777 as Bass & Co Brewery. William's son, Michael Thomas Bass, succeeded on his father's death in 1827, and the company became Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton.

By 1877, Bass was the largest brewery in the world. It became a public limited company in 1888. The company took control of a number of large breweries in the early 20th century and in the 1960s merged with Charrington United Breweries to become Bass Charrington.

The brewing operations of the company were bought by Interbrew (now Anheuser-Busch InBev) in 2000, while the retail side (hotel and pub holdings) were renamed Six Continents plc.