Wednesday 10 October 2007

Black Sheep



One uncanny coincidence that I kept thinking about while at BBH was their logo and my upbringing.

Black Sheep Beer was a large part of my childhood. Not in the drinking it sense, I hasten to add (I will never like beer I'm afraid), but in a brand sense. It was the local brewery. I went to school with members of the family. All the men in my family drink nothing else. The thing that has always particularly interested me though is the story behind the name.

Paul Theakston, part of the Theakston brewing dynasty, disagreed with his family over the selling of Theakston's in the early 1990s to Scottish and Newcastle. He left the fold to set up a rival brewery, in the same town. Awkward. Originally called 'Sheep', Paul's wife suggested, 'Black Sheep' as an appropriate name, given the tension and disagreements within the family.

It could be a Catherine Cookson plot...

So when I marched up to the Black Sheep above the door of BBH, I felt curiously at home. A familiar landmark in a way. I've just got to remember that, when everyone else zigs, to make sure I zag. Very Black Sheep.

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