Phipps NBC

The general spread of keg bitter in the late 1960s, and in particular Watney's treatment of Northamptonshire drinkers, were key spurs to the formation of the Campaign for Real Ale in 1971.

Since Phipps NBC had dominated its trading area, Watney's removal of all traditional hand pumps from its Midland pub estate led to CAMRA describing Northamptonshire as a real ale desert.

At the beginning of the 1970s, a partnership was formed between Watney Mann and Danish brewer Carlsberg Group with the aim of rebuilding the Phipps Bridge Street Brewery site into a modern lager plant.

Above ground the relatively modern office block was retained as part of Carlsberg's brewery, renamed Jacobsen House albeit they said retention was to be short term.

To accommodate the new brewery, a number of the branches of the fragmented River Nene were rerouted thus ending the pattern of waterways which had existed on maps since at least 1610.

His deputy and final head brewer, Bill Urquhart, founded the country's first microbrewery in 1974, Litchborough, based in the Northamptonshire village of the same name.

In November 2003, S&N began selling off its British pub estates and many former Phipps properties were bought by the Spirit Group, later Punch Taverns.

The pub chain's Northampton managers had been preparing to re-introduce a Phipps draught bitter at the time of the S&N sale and took the opportunity to take over the dormant company name and trademark.