Black Sheep Brewery Theakston left in 1988, and after a hiatus of more than a year purchased the North Yorkshire Malt Roasting Company, originally part of the former Lightfoot's brewery site, from an animal feed company, in order to start a new brewery in Masham. Theakston wanted to use the Lightfoot name to bring back an old brewing tradition, but Scottish and Newcastle had already trademarked the name. The association of Masham with sheep led Theakston to come up with the name "Sheep Brewery" which rapidly became "Black Sheep" at his wife's suggestion. The first and original Black Sheep Best Bitter was sold
The Black Sheep Cafe on in 2014, Empire Board Shop (a skate shop) moved in above Dumb Records, and later became Boof City Skate Shop. In 2015 the group of businesses making up the Southtown neighborhood launched a new "Project Southtown" to form a new non-for-profit group to focus on neighborhood cleanup and restoration. The Black Sheep Cafe The Black Sheep Cafe is an all ages music venue in Springfield, Illinois. The Black Sheep opened for its first shows in September 2005, and since then has become a notable venue in the Springfield, Illinois music scene. The venue is a drug and alcohol free