Bass Registers the Red Triangle as Britain’s First Trademark

On January 1, 1876, Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton registered the red triangle used on its pale ale as United Kingdom Trade Mark No. 1. The registration followed the Trade Marks Registration Act of 1875, which created Britain’s first formal national trademark-registration system. Bass had already used triangular symbols to distinguish its beers, but legal registration gave the red triangle formal protection as a commercial identifier. The red triangle became an enduring example of beer branding in an increasingly industrial and international consumer market. It allowed drinkers and merchants to recognize Bass Pale Ale through a simple visual symbol across labels, bottles, advertisements, and export markets. The mark later appeared in art and literature and remained closely associated with Bass long after the brewery’s nineteenth-century period of global prominence.