The brewery was founded at the beginning of the 19th century and first registered as the Bedford Brewing & Malting Co Ltd in 1866; Bedford being a suburb of Leigh. William Shaw was brewer and manager and later owner of the brewery and his son George inherited the company in 1899. The name was changed to George Shaw and Co Ltd in 1902. In 1931, when they owned about 300 pubs, the company was bought by Walker Cain Ltd, brewing had ended by 1933.

However, Walkers continued to brew up to six of the George Shaw brews well into the 1960's. It is our intention to deliver these brews back to the marketplace in the next few years.

The ambition is to return the brewery back into Leigh, create employment and have the brewery run as a cooperative for the people of Leigh.

The company was relaunched in 2022. Beers were initially brewery at 4Ts in Warrington, but in 2024 this was moved to Dunham Massey Brewery.