World's largest collection of brewery trays kept in a garage

SWNS

Richard Percival, 62, has spent over 40 years amassing the world's largest collection of beer trays, with 1,500 items from around the globe.  His collection began in 1982 during a football away day when he received his first tray in Brighton.  Richard’s passion for brewery history has grown into a "mini-museum" in his garage, displaying 300 pre-World War II trays.  His collection, which includes trays worth between £20 to £100, has gained international attention.  Richard’s "Holy Grail" is a Thomas Salt tray, and he’s created a brewery encyclopedia website to document his collection.  His wife Susan initially thought his hobby was odd but now supports it.

Transcript

00:00Hello my name is Richard Percival. I have Britain's biggest collection of brewery

00:05trays. I have about one and a half thousand British brewery trays. I've

00:11been collecting for over 40 years and the collection may even be the biggest

00:17collection in the world. I first started collecting in 1982. I'm a Fanatical

00:23Notts County fan, went on away matches, I went into a pub and one of my

00:29friends asked for a beer mat. The beer mat wasn't there but the landlord had a tray.

00:35The guy didn't want the tray so I took the tray and it all started from there.

00:40Over 40 years later I have on display in this converted garage 300 pre-World War

00:50trays. So when I first started collecting all my friends thought I was absolutely

00:56mad. My wife thought it was a joke but 40 years later every time anyone sees the

01:04collection the first word they say is wow. When I first started collecting I

01:10literally go into a pub and try and pick a tray up at a pub. Then it proceeded to

01:16antique fairs and then I had a wide range of people who'd look out for me. These

01:23days it's much more eBay and social media. So here's a tray from George Shaw who

01:32were based in Lee in Greater Manchester. Now the significance of this tray is this

01:37is a round version and one of the trays I'm looking for is the exact replica of

01:42this tray which is rectangular. People always ask me what's my favourite tray? A very

01:49difficult question but if I had to pick one it would be this tray from Warwickson

01:53Richardson's of Newark-on-Trent. Why? Well it's old, it's dated 1904 and it has a

02:01picture of the brewery, it has ten labels of all its beers and it has one little

02:07tiny thing which is a cricket bat as a trademark which dates it before the

02:12First World War. So how do you date a tray? It's actually fairly easy. The earliest

02:19trays were brass and copper from the 1880s. Thereafter the next material that

02:26was used was enamel. Another question I asked is do I collect anything else but

02:32trays? The answer is yes I do. I collect any old brewery memorabilia mainly from

02:38Victorian or Edwardian times including old adverts, mirrors and also from a

02:45brewery specifically which is Thomas Salt & Co Ltd which closed in 1927 and here

02:52is a lovely example of a mirror from around 1900 from the Saltz Brewery. So I'm

03:00asked how long am I going to do this for? How long's the hobby? Well it's going to

03:05last the rest of my life because I'm always on the search for any tray that's

03:11missing from my collection, especially black lat trays. I often come into the

03:15brewery room, most nights actually, and I always get myself a beer, my favourite beer.

03:23So I'm going to have one now. Cheers!

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