 In 1982 , Boddingtons bought the Oldham Brewery for £ 23 million , hoping to combine Oldham 's strength in lager and keg bitter with their own expertise in cask ales . After the acquisition , the company owned 272 public houses , 70 per cent of which were within 20 miles of its Manchester brewery . In 1983 , Boddingtons Bitter was distributed in the Home Counties for the first time . In 1985 Boddingtons paid £ 27 @.@ 5 million for the 160 @,@ 000 barrel capacity Higsons Brewery in Liverpool and its tied estate of 160 public houses to form a combine with a £ 65 million turnover . The Guardian commented that the company had paid mere asset value for Higsons as the company had been reporting poor profits . There was virtually no overlap between the two companies , and the takeover brought Boddingtons to Merseyside for the first time . By this time Strangeways was producing only two beers , a bitter and a mild , with bitter constituting over 90 per cent of production . In 1986 , the company employed 280 people and operated 530 tied houses , and while Strangeways Brewery had a capacity of 500 @,@ 000 barrels a year , it was operating at around 50 per cent capacity . That year the company introduced its own lager , brewing <unk> under license . 
