Allied Breweries and the Development of the Area Manager in British Brewing, 1950-1984

Brewing in the United Kingdom in the years following 1950 saw a shift from a production to a retailing orientation. As part of this shift, the role of the area manager started to move from production and sales discipline to retail development. This article explores the job of the area manager during the period, seeking to demonstrate the weakness in recent accounts that suggest that area managers serve only as an information relay between senior managers and unit managers. Although the evidence is limited, because of problems with the survival of records, it suggests a more complex picture, which has implications for area managers in retail and service industries more generally