The majority of John Smith's sales are of the nitrogenated Extra Smooth product, although a cask conditioned variant is available nationally.

Following a series of acquisitions in the post-World War II period, the company became one of the largest regional brewers in the country, operating over 1,800 licensed premises.

John Smith's Extra Smooth and Original are produced at the Tadcaster brewery, as well as a range of Heineken products including Amstel and Kronenbourg 1664.

John Smith's became well known for a series of highly successful "No Nonsense"-themed television advertising campaigns, featuring the dour Yorkshireman character "Arkwright" during the 1970s and 1980s (shown only in the South of England), followed by the comedians Jack Dee during the 1990s and Peter Kay since 2002.

[1] Jane Hartley died in 1852, and John Smith acquired the business, enlisting his brother William to assist.

[5] The prosperity of the 1850s and 1860s, together with the arrival of the railways, realised greater opportunities for brewers, and John Smith employed eight men in his brewing and malting enterprise by 1861.

[6][8] William purchased Samuel's share of his brother's personal estate, and built a modern brewery in 1883–4 at the cost of £130,000 (£9.7 million in 2013).

[10] The firm expanded throughout the 1880s by creating an agency network, establishing sixteen offices in nearby settlements, and offering free trade discounts on their beer of 20 per cent or higher.

[21] In 1950 there was a general strike in Belgium, and John Smith's hired two Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber aircraft to carry 7 ton loads twice-daily of their beers into the country in order to ensure supply.

[24] In 1959 the company began to bottle imported Alken lager at Tadcaster, in response to growing customer demand.

[27] In 1961, John Smith's acquired the Barnsley Brewery Company, adding 250 licensed properties to their growing estate.

[28] Whilst some product rationalisation took place, popular lines such as Warwicks' Milk Maid Stout were retained.

[30][31] As a result of acquisitions, by 1967 John Smith's was the third largest regional brewer in the country after Courage and Scottish & Newcastle, with fixed assets of £30 million.

[35][13] By this time John Smith's owned around 1,800 licensed premises throughout the north of England, and as far south as Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and parts of Cambridgeshire and Shropshire.

[36] By combining Courage's strength in the South of England, and John Smith's in the North, a national brewing company was created.

[52] It is a nitrogenated version of the pasteurised beer, which was renamed to John Smith's Original in order to differentiate the two products.

[57] According to Heineken, the decision was taken in order to bring the product in line with the strength of its major competitors such as Tetley, Boddingtons and Worthington.

[74] An early campaign used a series of parodies of Jona Lewie's "Stop the Cavalry" generally extolling "yer mate called Smith."

[76] The campaign won a large number of advertising industry awards, and was featured on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

[79] The Dee campaign was widely credited with helping John Smith's rise from sixteenth to fourth highest selling beer in the UK as sales increased by 65 per cent, and the brand overtook Tetley's as the highest selling ale brand in the world by 1995.

[79] The Dee campaign won fifty advertising awards, and helped to turn the rising comedian into a household name.

[79] Despite appearing in over 20,000 pubs, clubs and shops, No Nonsense Man was found to have less of an impact than the Dee advertisements.

[42] Despite the success of the Kay campaign, the perceived "laddishness" of the advertisements were criticised by rival brewer Interbrew as hindering sales of beer among women.

[83] It has sponsored the Northumberland Plate since 2003, and more than 90 "No Nonsense" race days are held throughout the year at 28 jump and flat racecourses across the UK.