The Old Shipping Co , shipping traders and salmon fishers, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, was established at some point prior to 1766 by a group of local men, mainly coopers, who held shares in a small sailing fleet engaged in the London, coastal and foreign trade. As commodities included salmon, the company leased fishing rights on the river Tweed. Berwick Shipping Co was formed in 1820 by members of the Old Shipping Co and Commercial Shipping Co (established in 1798) of Berwick-upon-Tweed, with both the predecessor companies ceasing to trade that year. The new company worked the fisheries and continued the shipping trade. In 1837 steam vessels were introduced on the Hull, England; Leith, Scotland; and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, runs. In 1850 , the Berwick Shipping Co merged with the General Shipping Co of Berwick-upon-Tweed, established in 1825, and was incorporated in 1856 as Berwick Shipping Co Ltd . The shipping vessels were sold off in 1869 as business had become unprofitable and the company's name changed to Berwick Salmon Fisheries Co Ltd in 1872 . The company's main premises from 1901 to 1979 were at the old lifeboat station at Quayside, Berwick-upon-Tweed. New premises with facilities for deep freezing salmon were built at Spittal, Berwick-upon-Tweed, in 1964. In 1965, the company acquired the share capital of Border Fare Ltd, incorporated in 1962, a frozen food company. Berwick Salmon Fisheries Co Ltd was the first company to be re-registered as a public limited company in 1980. In 1987, the company became the Berwick Group Ltd. In 1989, the company reverted to trade under Berwick Salmon Fisheries Co Ltd . The company appears to have been taken over by Surrey Group Ltd in 1988 before being dissolved in 1990 .
Richmond, Lesley and Stockford, Bridget. Company Archives: The Survey of the Records of 1000 of the First Registered Companies in England and Wales (Gower: Aldershot, 1986)
