Courage Cockerels

A price list, 1914

A price list, 1930s

Courage Glass Sign. Photo: Jorgen Langkilde Larsen, Aarhus, Denmark

Alton Bitter

Mug base

Beermats

Courage Cockerels

Courage & Co. Ltd

(This page is under construction)

The Cockerel has long been the image identifying Courage pubs.

In 1780, John Courage, born in Aberdeen of a French Huguenot family, moved to London. In 1787, he bought the Horselydown brewhouse from the Ellis family. John Courage I died in 1793, but was succeeded by two further generations, both John. It is thought that the brewery's Gold Cockerel image sprang from the family's French origins, and began to be associated with the brewery from the early 19th century.

In the 1930s, a new cockerel design became more prolifically used and was gradually introduced on pub signs, brewery stationery etc. In 1948, Courage commissioned designer Milner Gray to create a new silhouette design, and this lasted all the way up to the early 1990s. From the 1960s, Courage pubs were given wall plaques featuring the Cockerel.

Here are some examples.