In early 2020, Carlsberg and Marston’s announced a joint venture: the Danish corporation taking 60% of the new Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) with Marston’s holding 40% and receiving a cash payment of over £270m. At the time, we commented that we had concerns regarding the future of both the brewery and the internationally unique Burton Union System as used in Marston’s Albion Brewery. http://tinyurl.com/498ss642
So far this year:
- the historic Union System has been retired
- Marston’s pubs have sold non-cask beer via handpumps, the internationally recognised indicator of cask beer, an action described by CAMRA as the ‘handpump hijack’
- CMBC have recently purchased the remaining 40% of the brewing company, leaving Marstons, famous for both Old Roger and Pedigree, as yet another, large pub company.
This new £206m deal means that Carlsberg now own the Marstons Albion Brewery (Shobnall Road, Burton), and the brands brewed on that site (including Jennings, Marstons and Wychwood). After almost 200 years of brewing, Marstons now have around 1370 pubs and a long-term brand distribution agreement with CMBC.
Carlsberg have also acquired soft drinks company, Britvic, for £3.3b. They now have a UK business, covering beer and soft drinks, from which they expect to make some £100m of annual savings from combined distribution costs etc. In volume, they are 4th in UK brewing. The UK is now the companies’ biggest market. As I wrote a few short months ago: Carlsberg seem to have no care for the brewing heritage they have acquired in the UK. In Denmark, they have a reputation as a patron of the arts and a respecter of heritage and tradition. However, not in the UK, where a race to the lowest common destination continues to be the plan
