No this isn't another post by Tyson, but I note that Marston's have just bought Refresh UK, parent company of Hobgoblin brewer Wychwood, for a sum reckoned not to be unadjacent to £11million. Wychwood also brew Brakspear and Mann's beers.
Now I don't care for their beers one little bit, but plenty of others do. Following on from Marston's acquisition of both Jennings and Ringwood, it leaves the enlarged group with five breweries. Although Marston's have promised that brewing will continue at Wychwood which produces an impressive 50,000 barrels a year, can we really expect all five breweries to stay open? I'd say not and if I was sitting in Ringwood or even Wolverhampton, I'd be very afraid.
Is this good for British Brewing? The answer is an emphatic "No!"
Marston's operate breweries in Wolverhampton, Burton, Ringwood and Cockermouth before today's takeover.
Not good news indeed. My guess would be that Ringwood would be most at risk. Either way, there's bound to be some consolidation.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on spare capacity as much as anything else. Work out how much they have spare, how much of that they plan to use, and work out which brewery is the right size to fall through the gap.
ReplyDeleteThey may not be the best beers in the world, but from an Oxford drinker's perspective it's a bit miserable. Although there are some good pubs in Oxford if you know where to look, a depressing number of local pubs belong to Greene King since they bought the Morrells and Morland estates. So a couple of Wychwood pubs (with guest beers too, of course) help add some much-needed variety.
ReplyDeleteAs I said Tom, I don't care for their beers, but others do. The Greene King thing is far more worrying to my mind. Their beers are just so miserable!
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