John Smith's Brewery

John Smith's Brewery

Industry	Brewing
Predecessor	Backhouse & Hartley[1]
Founded	1852[1]
Founder	John Smith
Headquarters	Tadcaster, North Yorkshire[2] , England
Products	Beer
Production output	3.8 million hectolitres (1.3 million hl of John Smith's)[3]
Owner	Heineken UK
Number of employees	c.300 (c. 2012)[4]
Parent	Heineken International

John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s.

The majority of John Smith's sales are of the nitrogenated Extra Smooth product, although a cask conditioned variant is available nationally. A stronger variant called Magnet is also available in the North East of England. John Smith's Cask and Magnet are produced under licence by Cameron's in Hartlepool.

John Smith acquired the Backhouse & Hartley brewery in 1852. 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. The company was taken over by Courage in 1970 who extended distribution of the brewery's products into the South of England. Courage was acquired by Scottish & Newcastle in 1995, and the operations were purchased by Heineken in 2008.

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. With a 38 million litre capacity, the brewery is one of the largest in the country.

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. The brand also has an association with horse racing: it was the principal sponsor of the Grand National between 2005 and 2013, the Northumberland Plate from 2003 until 2016, and has sponsored the John Smith's Cup since 1960.