Theakston Brewery company acquired and closed down the Lightfoot Brewery, also in Masham. Theakston's expanded into Cumbria in 1974 buying the Carlisle State Management Brewery. The brewery had been owned and operated by the government since 1916. However, the site was a financial drain on Theakston's and led to the company being taken over in 1984 by Blackburn based brewer, Matthew Brown plc. Matthew Brown was itself taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in 1987. Paul Theakston (Managing Director since 1968) left Theakston's in 1988, and in 1992 established the Black Sheep Brewery in the old Lightfoot Brewery premises - located adjacent
The Black Sheep Cafe namesake festival "Black Sheep Fest" in July. Black Sheep Fest has been an annual festival at the venue since 2008, as it had Black Sheep Fest 7 in 2015. The Black Sheep Cafe has caused a number of other related businesses and projects to start in the Southtown neighborhood of Springfield. In late 2013 the Black Sheep announced that it would be teaming up with Error Records in Champaign, Illinois to open up Dumb Records- a new record store in the Southtown neighborhood. Also in December 2013 Brandon Carnes opened up South Town Studio directly behind The Black Sheep. Later