By 1890 Allsopp’s was producing 460,000 barrels of beer a year with a workforce of 1,750.

In the late 1890s, Allsopp’s invested in a new 60,000-barrel brewery designed to make lager beer and was the first of its type in England. Percival Allsopp travelled across Germany to educate himself in the art of lagering. He then bought his state-of-the-art Brewery in New York, which promised to cut the lagering time by one-third. During this time, Allsopp’s was investing in regional brewers like Arrol’s in Scotland (where the parts of this vast lager brewery were reinstalled).

The fortunes of the Brewery then started to fade as Samuel Allsopp and Sons bought a huge pub estate of over 800 pubs, seaside resorts like the Kursaal in South End on Sea, and installed capacity of 50% of the national lager demand, half a century early.

Financial disaster struck in 1911, and the Allsopp family left the day-to-day management; professional management outside of the family was employed, and the company struggled on.